• Michelle Obama to grads: Focus on what unites us

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Reaching across the aisle can be helpful not only in politics but also in the personal growth of recent college graduates, first lady Michelle Obama said in a commencement address at Eastern Kentucky University over the weekend.

    “If you’re a Democrat, spend some time talking to a Republican. And if you’re a Republican, have a chat with a Democrat. Maybe you’ll find some common ground; maybe you won’t,” she said to about 600 graduating seniors on Saturday.

    “We know what happens when we only talk to people who think like we do," she added. "We just get more stuck in our ways, more divided, and it gets harder to come together for a common purpose.”

    Michelle Obama was just one of hundreds of commencement speakers imparting their wisdom to college graduates this month. Over the weekend, the first lady, former President Bill Clinton and NBC News’ Tom Brokaw highlighted the speakers circuit with a common theme: Focus on the things that unite us, not divide us.

    "You can either choose to use those opportunities to continue fighting the fights that we’ve been locked in for decades, or you can choose to reject those old divisions and embrace folks with a different point of view," Michelle Obama said.  "And if you do that, the latter, who knows where it might take you -- more importantly, where it might take our country."

    Since her husband's 2008 election, Michelle Obama has had a front row seat to experience the gridlock that partisanship has caused in the federal government. Like the first lady, Brokaw urged graduates of Loyola University in New Orleans to focus on the "common pursuit of the goals that we all have, not small ideas that divide us."

    "You are prepared to do all that to make us better,” he told the Class of 2013.

    Brokaw also told the graduates that the next 100 years will be known as the century where women will fully be viewed as equals to their male counterparts.

    “The 21st century will be remembered, I can assure you now, even though it’s a long way from being over, it will be remembered as the century when women finally took their rightful and fully recognized place in society here and around the world,” he said to thunderous applause.

    Clinton told Howard University graduates that they are part of a small minority of the world's population that has the privilege of choosing how they want to earn a living. His advice: Do what makes you happy.

    "Most people are happiest doing what they are best at. You have been given that gift," he said.

     Below are some excerpts from their speeches:

    Tom Brokaw

    Address to Loyola University in New Orleans on May 11.

     

    “Leave here today determined to be the generation of big ideas that unite us in the common pursuit of the goals that we all have, not small ideas that divide us. Adopt the mantra of the generation that gave you all those apps, the instruments and the capacity that so change your life. In Silicon Valley they wake up every morning saying, ‘How can we be disruptive? How can we challenge convention and make life a better place? You are prepared to do all that to make us better.”

     

    Former President Bill Clinton

    Address to Howard University on May 11.

     

    “Even with the employment situation and the economic challenges, virtually all of you have the power to choose what you will do to earn a living. It may seem self-evident, but most people who have ever lived, including hundreds of millions even billions on the face of the Earth today, never had that choice.

    "… You have a choice. The only bit of personal advice I have is this: Try to do something that will make you happy. And most people are happiest doing what they are best at. You have been given that gift." 

  • Study: High school grad rate highest since '76

    Researchers suggest the reason high school graduation rates climbed to 78 percent is because very few jobs tempt young people to leave high school. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    By Philip Elliott, The Associated Press

    The nation's high school graduation rate is the highest since 1976, but more than a fifth of students are still failing to get their diploma in four years, the Education Department said in a study released Tuesday.


    Officials said the steady rise of students completing their education is a reflection of the struggling economy and a greater competition for new jobs. 

    "If you drop out of high school, how many good jobs are there out there for you? None. That wasn't true 10 or 15 years ago," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press. 

    The national dropout rate was about 3 percent overall, down from the year before. Many students who don't receive their diplomas in four years stay in school, taking five years or more to finish their coursework. 

    Some 3.1 million students nationwide earned their high school diplomas in the spring of 2010, with 78 percent of students finishing on time. That's the best since a 75 percent on-time graduation rate during the 1975-76 academic year. 

    The only better rate was 79 percent in 1969-70, a figure the department wouldn't vouch for. 

    There were tremendous differences among the states in 2010. Fifty-eight percent of students in Nevada and 60 percent in Washington, D.C., completed their high school education in four years. By comparison, 91 percent of students in Wisconsin and Vermont did, according to the report. 

    Latino graduation rates climb 10 points since 2006

    Graduation rates increased by more than a percentage point in 38 states between 2009 and 2010, the study found. Only the District of Columbia saw its graduation rates decline between by greater than a percentage point during those years. 

    Among the most significant factors of the increase was the dire U.S. economy after the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. During the 2009-10 academic year, unemployment ranged from 9.4 percent to 10 percent. 

    "When I grew up on the South Side of Chicago it wasn't great, but I had lots of friends who dropped out and they could go work in the stockyards or steel mills and they could buy a home, support a family, do OK," Duncan said. 

    But those jobs are gone and won't come back, he said. 

    California, the nation's largest public school system by enrollment, led the nation in new graduates in 2010, turning out almost 405,000. It also produced the most dropouts: almost 93,000. That translated to a rate of about 5 percent, above the national average. 

    During the 2009-10 academic year, some 514,000 students dropped out of high school nationwide. Still, the rate declined from 4 percent during the seven previous academic years, when data was sometimes incomplete or represented averages of states that reported figures. 

    Nationally, students were most likely to drop out of high school during their senior year, with roughly one in 20 quitting before graduation day. In every state, males were more likely to drop out. 

    Arizona had the highest dropout rate, at 8 percent, followed by Mississippi at 7 percent. Washington, D.C., schools also posted a 7 percent dropout rate, the Education Department projected based on previous years' reporting. 

    Mississippi, New Mexico and Wyoming had dropout rates rise more than one percentage point, while Delaware, Illinois and Louisiana saw noticeable decreases. Delaware dropped from about 5 percent to 4 percent. Illinois dropped from roughly 12 percent to 3 percent. And Louisiana dropped from 7 percent to 5 percent. 

    "The trends are hopeful but our high school dropout rate is still unsustainably high and it's untenable in many of our African-American and Latino communities. We have a long way to go here," Duncan said. 

    Nationally, white and Asian and Pacific Islander students were among the least likely to leave school without a degree, with only 2 percent dropout rates. Hispanic students posted a 5 percent dropout rate, followed by blacks at 6 percent and American Indians and Alaska Natives at 7 percent. 

    "There's no young person who aspires to be a high school dropout," Duncan said. "When someone drops out, it's a symptom of a problem. It's not the problem itself. Something has gone radically wrong."

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Oklahoma high school valedictorian denied diploma for using 'hell' in speech

    An Oklahoma high school valedictorian's diploma is being withheld because she used of the phrase "what the hell?" in her speech. KFOR's Sarah Stewart reports.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    An Oklahoma high school valedictorian who was denied her diploma because she used the world “hell” in her commencement speech doesn’t plan to apologize for her choice of words, her father says.

    David Nootbaar said he is furious that Prague High School is withholding his daughter Kaitlin's diploma because of her use of the word during the graduation speech in May. “She has worked so hard to stay at the top of her class and this is not right,” he said. “She earned that diploma. In four years she has never made a B. She got straight A’s and had a 4.0 the whole way through."


    School officials declined to comment. "This matter is confidential and we cannot publicly say anything about it," Prague schools Superintendent Rick Martin said in a statement to KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City.

    David Nootbaar said his daughter was inspired by the movie “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" when she wrote the speech. “Her quote was, ‘When she first started school she wanted to be a nurse, then a veterinarian and now that she was getting closer to graduation, people would ask her, what do you want to do and she said ‘How the hell do I know? I’ve changed my mind so many times,’” he said.

    He said in the written script she gave to the school she wrote “heck,” but in the moment she said “hell” instead. 

    Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com 

    During the ceremony, Nootbaar said the audience laughed and she finished her speech to warm applause. She didn’t know there was a problem, he said.

    But trouble surfaced when she went to school to pick up her graduation certificate last week, her father said.

    “We went to the office and asked for the diploma and the principal said ‘Your diploma is right here but you’re not getting it. Close the door we have a problem,'" Nootbaar said.

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    He said the principal told Kaitlin she would have to write an apology letter before he would release the diploma.

    Kaitlin doesn’t plan on writing an apology letter because she doesn’t feel she did anything wrong, her father said. He said her family stands behind her decision.

    Kaitlin starts classes at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in a few days on a full scholarship. 

    KFOR-TV's La'Tasha Givens contributed to this report.

     

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  • Paralyzed California teen walks at high school graduation

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    A California teen paralyzed nearly all his life lived up to his big promise this week and walked on stage to accept his high school diploma.


    For the last three years, 17-year-old Patrick Ivison of San Diego has been going through intensive training for Tuesday’s ceremony, enduring six hours per day of physical therapy, according to KGTV in San Diego.

    He vowed to everyone he knew that he was going to walk on stage during commencement.

    "There's always that like, oh, I've got, you know, all of America expecting me to get through this," Ivison told KGTV.

    The Scripps Ranch High School student suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident when he was only 14 months old.

    When Ivison appeared on stage during commencement ceremonies, cheers and a standing ovation greeted him, encouraging him every step of the way. With the help of his trainer, a custom walker and his service dog, Ivison accepted his diploma. He graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average, according to KGTV.

    "Graduation was fantastic and it was like I was in another time zone," Janice Kyler, Ivison's grandmother, told msnbc.com on Thursday. "He walked slow and it was the best walking he has ever done."

    "We’re thrilled, proud and words can’t express the emotions. He's worked so hard to get to this point. He's a sweetheart,” Kyler said.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

    She said the injury has done little to stop her spirited grandson. 

    Ivison was inspired to surf when he was 8 years old after seeing an adaptive surfer in the documentary "Step into Liquid," according to NBCSanDiego.com. By 13, he was competing in the U.S. Open of Surfing and Life Rolls On, a non-profit organization created to improve the lives of young people with spinal cord injuries, has been with all the way.

    "We couldn’t be more proud of Patrick Ivison," said Kris Nakamura, executive director of Life Rolls On, in a statement. "Serving as an ambassador for Life Rolls On Foundation since he began surfing with us at 8-years-old, he has grown into an incredible young man who continues to be a shining example of how life truly rolls on after spinal cord injury. His first steps are just an example of even greater things to come."

    These days, the teen is busy with college plans.

    Ivison was unavailable for comment on Thursday because he was attending orientation at the University of Southern California, which he plans to attend in the fall to study film.

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  • 'Graduataion' has a special meaning after Nevada diploma error

    By msnbc.com staff

    Another high school has wound up with a misspelled word on its diplomas -- this time "graduation" became "graduataion" in Spring Creek, Nev.

    The error was discovered after the 203 diplomas were given to Spring Creek High School graduates, the Elko Daily Free Press reported. Spring Creek is outside Elko. 

    Bryan Durfey, representative for printing company Jostens, told the Free Press that the company doesn't charge for corrected diplomas and had already sent them out to the Spring Creek High grads.

    “We understand we aren’t gonna be perfect,” Durfey told the newspaper.

    Last week, more than 8,000 diplomas in Prince George's County, Md., were found to have the word "program" misspelled.

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  • 'You are not special,' English teacher tells graduating Massachusetts students

    This video is from the Wellesley Media Corporation's YouTube channel

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    One English teacher had a message for this year's graduates of Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Mass.: They aren’t special.


    In addition to exhorting the Class of 2012 to pursue distinctive lives, Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough delivered some sobering words: “None of you is special. You are not special. You are not exceptional.”

    The educator called the graduating students “pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble wrapped... nudged, cajoled ... feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie.” 

    “Contrary to what your U9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you … you’re nothing special,” he said in his speech, published in the Boston Herald.

    McCullough rattled off statistics, saying numbers were stacking up against the graduating class. He said half of the class would be divorced and life wasn’t going to revolve around their every whim.

    "Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That's 37,000 valedictorians ... 37,000 class presidents ... 92,000 harmonizing altos ... 340,000 swaggering jocks ... 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs," McCullough said in his speech.

    He added: "Even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you."

    Near the end of his speech, he urged the graduates to use that revelation as a springboard to a fulfiling life: 

    "The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you're not special. Because everyone is."

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  • 'Not a sporting event': Excessive cheering hogs spotlight at high school graduations

    KNTV's Jodi Hernandez reports on how students across the San Francisco Bay Area are preparing for one of the most important milestones in their lives, high school graduation.

    By NBCBayArea.com's Lisa Fernandez and Jodi Hernandez and msnbc.com's Sevil Omer

    Police arrest a South Carolina mother who cheered too loudly during her daughter’s high school graduation. Officials at one Ohio high school deny a star football player his diploma because of a crowd’s raucous applause. One Florida Catholic school temporarily withholds an athlete’s diploma because he “Tebowed” on stage.


    Nationwide, schools are cracking down on the Class of 2012 at graduation ceremonies over behavior deemed inappropriate.

    "People have to remember that graduation is a commencement exercise and not a sporting event," Ken Griffith, president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Reston, Va., told msnbc.com.

    "I cannot say for certain that this has become a widespread problem, but I've seen graduation ceremonies go from a religious-like baccalaureate process to one of celebration," he said. "Every principal is trying to find that right balance for their community and for each student because who ever is on stage at any given moment, the person right behind them deserves to receive the same accolades from their family."

    At Pinole Valley High School in Pinole, Calif., on Saturday, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents will be allowed to chant, cheer, clap and stomp when their seniors walk across the stage. But the school is drawing the line at air horns.

    On the back of the graduation tickets, guests are told to respect speakers and remain in their seats, and they're given a reminder that "all noisemakers and balloons are prohibited."

    No air horns at graduation: Read NBCBayArea.com’s report

    NBC Bay Area

    Charles Ramsey, president of West Contra Costa County School District, told NBCBayArea.com that he and others will remind parents to be respectful and check bags for noisemakers.

    "The graduation police we're not going to be," he told NBCBayArea.com. "I understand some of the need to establish some protocols and limits. However, we don't want to lose sight of the reason why they are there ... to celebrate the accomplishment."

    'She's going to go crazy'
    Andrew Gonzales, an 18-year-old Pinole Valley High senior, will be speaking at graduation Saturday. He said he expects his family to be loud.

    "My mom already told me … she's going to go crazy in the audience," Gonzales told NBCBayArea.com. "There's a lot of sentiment that goes along with a child graduating from high school and this marks the day when you transition from childhood to adulthood."

    theGRIO: Why black people cheer louder at graduation ceremonies

    The focus on graduation disruptions comes after a series of high-profile incidents.

    Shannon Cooper was arrested by Florence, S.C.,  police for disorderly conduct on June 2. She had been whooping loudly when her daughter, Christin Iesha Cooper, was called to receive her diploma at South Florence High School.

    Cooper told msnbc.com she felt humiliated by the arrest.

    Florence Police Chief Anson Shells defended the officer's actions, maintaining Cooper's shouting was nothing short of disorderly conduct.

    Shells said people attending the ceremony had been warned to behave during commencement.

    “The school district made an announcement and sent out letters to all of the parents for everyone to be as orderly as they can during the ceremony and so on and so forth,” Shells told msnbc.com on Tuesday. “That was the rule.”

    SC mom busted at kid's graduation: 'I cheered for my baby and I got the cuffs'

    In late May, Anthony Cornist was denied his diploma from Mt. Healthy Senior High School in Cincinnati because of his family's "excessive" cheering at the ceremony. The superintendent told news outlets that it was the prolonged duration of the cheers that halted the ceremony and kept other families from hearing their children's names from being announced.

    In a policy implemented this year, parents agreed not to engage in "any disruptive behavior." And if there was such behavior, the policy stated, a child's diploma would be held until he or she could complete 20 hours of community service.

    "I don't understand how he's being punished for something he has no control over. I just thought that was ludicrous," his mother, Traci Cornist, told WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.

    On May 19, 17-year-old Chuck Shriner got in trouble for “Tebowing” during the Bishop Verot Catholic High School commencement in Fort Myers, Fla., on May 19, the Naples Daily News reported.

    The audience burst into laughter, but school faculty -- including his mother, a math teacher at the private school – didn’t find the stunt amusing because school officials had discouraged students from acting out during the ceremony.

    Upon his mother’s request, Shriner was ordered to clean up the gym to earn back of his diploma.

    'Parents are appropriately joyous'
    In the Bay Area, schools in Oakland, Berkeley, Santa Clara, Fremont, Milpitas and Cupertino do not expressly spell out how pride can be emoted at graduations. And many local school leaders thought an outright ban on cheering was downright ludicrous.

    "Our parents are appropriately joyous," Palo Alto Unified District Superintendent Kevin Skelly told NBCBayArea.com.

    Gonzales, the Pinole Valley High valedictorian, said he expected his mother to be emotional at his graduation and that was appropriate: "She should be able to cheer however she wants to."

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  • SC mom busted at kid's graduation: 'I cheered for my baby and I got the cuffs'

    Courtesy of WPDE-TV

    Shannon Cooper who was arrested for cheering too loudly at her daughter's high school graduation.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    Updated at 4:49 p.m. ET: A South Carolina mother says she was humiliated when she was arrested during her daughter's high school graduation last weekend in Florence, S.C., for cheering too loudly.

    But police say Shannon Cooper's shouting was nothing short of disorderly conduct.

    "I am still living in shock," Cooper told msnbc.com. "It all seems like a bad dream, a nightmare of what was to be one of the happiest days of our lives. I cheered for my baby and I got the cuffs."

    Cooper said she was whooping it up when her 18-year-old daughter, Christin Iesha Cooper, walked across the stage to get her diploma from South Florence High School on June 2.

    "I am a proud mom," said Cooper, a beautician from Florence. "And as soon as they said 'Christin' I stood up, started praising, woohooing and cheering it up for my baby. I was like 'Go baby! You did it'."

    Florence Police Chief Anson Shells said people attending the ceremony had been warned to behave during commencement ceremonies. If they failed to do so, they would be escorted out, he said.

    “The school district made an announcement and sent out letters to all of the parents for everyone to be as orderly as they can during the ceremony and so on and so forth,” Shells told msnbc.com.  “That was the rule.”

    Cooper doesn't think she did anything wrong. She said police arrested her as she made her way down the stairs and onto the auditorium's main floor. She said officers walked her across the Florence Civic Center, where the graduation ceremony was being held, in full view of everyone.


    "The police officer pointed his finger at me and said 'Stop right here. The lady right there in white, she's going to jail'," Cooper said. "The whole time I was thinking in my mind 'Are you all serious? You for real?' I didn't say anything. I was shocked."

    Florence County Sheriff's Office

    Shannon Cooper's booking photo.

    Cooper was charged with disorderly conduct and booked in Florence County Detention Center, where she stayed for several hours until posting a $225 bond, according to WPDE-TV, an ABC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.  "I didn't do any more than the others did. Which I feel like no one should have gone to jail," she said.

    Cooper's daughter told WPDE-TV she didn’t know what had happened to her mom until her friends filled her in. "They're locking your momma up for cheering -- and I was like that isn't right because other people were cheering and they didn't lock them up," she said.

    Shells told msnbc.com two others were arrested during the commencement service.

    “They were disruptive enough that officers felt they had to be removed and that they had violated the law,” Shells said.

    Shells said 30 officers were stationed at the convention center that evening to monitor a crowd of 9,000 people. South Florence High School had 407 students graduating that night, he said.

    “According to the report, she was disruptive during the ceremony and ceremonies are considered solemn occasions,” Shells said. “Everybody wants to hear their child’s name called and everyone was asked to be respectful and to be quiet.”

    Cooper said the family celebrated her daughter's special day on Sunday with a barbecue. She said she wants to put the day behind her, but finds it difficult at the moment.

    Said Cooper: "Disorderly conduct? What's the disorderly conduct? How was I so disorderly you know any different from just a happy parent? It was a lot of hard work to get my baby to this point, you know? I wanted to celebrate. I wanted to shout out my joy."

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  • Update: Graduation day tragedy: Ohio crash kills 4 teens

    Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer

    Sean Egan embraces Brandon Davies as the Brunswick High School students mourn at the site of a fatal crash on Boston Road in Columbia Township on Sunday.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    A car carrying five teenagers went airborne as it sped over railroad tracks early Sunday and crashed, killing the 18-year-old driver hours before his high school graduation and two of his passengers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. 

    A fourth teen, who was airlifted from the scene, died Monday at the Metrohealth Medical Center, the Plain Dealer reported.

    Less than 13 hours after the crash, Brunswick High School students left empty seats covered with flowers at their graduation ceremony to remember driver Jeffrey Chaya and Kevin Fox, the student who died Monday. 

    "It was very sad," Superintendent Michael Mayell said after the commencement ceremony at the University of Akron. "There were a lot of tears." 

    The 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier was traveling at a high speed just after midnight when Chaya lost control in Columbia Township in northeast Ohio, troopers at the Elyria post said. The car went airborne and off the right side of the roadway, then swerved across the left side of the road, hit a ditch and tree, then flipped over, according to the troopers' report. 


    Chaya, front-seat passenger Blake Bartchak, 17, and back-seat passenger Lexi Poerner, 16, died in the crash, according to The Chronicle-Telegram newspaper. 

    Cleveland's Plain Dealer reported that Chaya and Bartchak were close friends, having first met in fourth grade when Chaya moved to the neighborhood. The two were together "constantly," Chaya's parents told the newspaper. 

    Fox, a back-seat passenger, was thrown from the car into a ditch, troopers said. He was flown to Cleveland Metro Health Medical Center where he died Monday.

    The fifth person in the car, identified by troopers as 17-year-old Julia Romito, was taken to Southwest General Hospital. The Plain-Dealer said reported she was in stable condition in surgical intensive care. 

    Peggy Turbett / The Plain Dealer

    Colin Curtis, left and Sobhit Haribakthi, seniors who graduated from Brunswick High School Sunday, grieve during a prayer service at St. Ambrose Church..

    'Very popular students'
    Fox and Chaya were called during the commencement, which included a moment of silence and comments about the tragic accident, Mayell said. More than 600 students graduated Sunday. 

    Grief counselors were available to meet with students at the high school later in the day. Memorial services were held Sunday evening at a church and a performing arts center. 

     "We want to allow the families to grieve in peace, and do whatever we can to get through this very tragic situation," Mayell said. 

    Troopers were still investigating the crash Sunday. They said the only confirmed factor was unsafe speed, although they were still calculating the car's estimated speed. 

    Peggy Turbett / The Plain Dealer

    Angel Smith, left, Samantha Aborub, and Charlotte Sigel, friends of Lexi Poerner and graduates of Brunswick High School in 2010, mourn during the candelight service for Brunswick High School victims.

    Mayell has known Poerner's family for years, and said the students who were killed were well known at school, taking part in school activities and volunteering. 

    "They were very popular students, very well-liked," Mayell said. "We've always been a very tight-knit community," he said. "It's one of those things that happens that I just don't get." 

    Chaya, a wide receiver on the Brunswick High football team, was the kind of teen with a lot of "best friends," his mother Paula Chaya told the Plain Dealer.  

    "He just loved being around his friends, and he had a ton of people who loved him," she told the newspaper. 

    Chaya had posted Saturday on his Twitter account: "Weird to think graduation is tomorrow time does fly big time." 

    On Saturday, graduating seniors at another northeast Ohio high school wore special red and black ribbons as a sign of unity and remembrance in the aftermath of the Feb. 27 Chardon school shootings that killed three students and wounded two others. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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  • Navy grads told their future is building US strength in Pacific

    Patrick Semansky / AP

    A formation of U.S. Navy Blue Angel fighter jets perform a flyover above graduating midshipmen during the United States Naval Academy graduation and commissioning ceremonies in Annapolis, Md., on Tuesday.

    By NBC News and news services

    Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., that they will help shape a more agile, flexible, technologically advanced military that puts an emphasis on Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. 


    "One of the key projects that your generation will have to face is sustaining and enhancing American strength across the great maritime region of the Pacific," he said Tuesday.

    He told graduates that their work will help strengthen defense ties with China, modernize ties with old allies like Japan and Korea and build new partnerships with countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore.

    America's prosperity lies with the ability "to advance peace and security," he said. "That reality is inescapable for our country and for our military, which has already begun broadening and deepening our engagement throughout the Asia Pacific."

    During visits to Southeast Asia, India and China, Panetta vowed to speak about America's goal to remain a Pacific power. "And I'll tell them why: because of you," he told the class of 2012. "Because during your careers many of you will be headed across the Pacific. There and across the globe, the Navy and Marine Corps must lead a resurgence of America's enduring maritime presence and power."

    Panetta urged the graduates to help strengthen defense ties with China. 

    Navy Secretary Ray Mabus joins Morning Joe to discuss the current state of the Navy, what defense budgets cuts will do to the Navy, reversing a decline in the number of naval ships, and possibly preparing for conflict in Iran.

    "China's military is growing and modernizing," he said. "We must be vigilant. We must be strong. We must be prepared to confront any challenge. But the key to peace in that region is to develop a new era of defense cooperation between our countries — one in which our militaries share security burdens to advance peace in the Asia-Pacific and around the world." 

    Panetta also said the military will protect its investments in cybersecurity, unmanned systems and special operation forces. "We will ensure our military can confront aggression and defeat any opponent anytime, anywhere," Panetta said.

    There were a total of 1,099 graduates — 877 men and 222 women. A total of 810 were commissioned as naval officers, including 634 men and 176 women. There were 267 commissioned as officers in the Marine Corps, including 224 men and 43 women. Several graduated as officers in the Air Force and Coast Guard.

    Panetta also noted the death last week of retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1949. He was 85.

    The defense secretary cited the academy's diversity, and he noted that some students are gay. This was the first graduating class at the service academy in which gay students could be open about their sexuality after repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy in September.

    "You are men and women from every state in the union and 12 foreign nations — rich and poor, secular and religious, black, white, Latino, Native American, Asian, straight and gay. Diversity of this class is a tribute to the life and service of retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown," Panetta said, bringing cheers and applause from the audience. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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