Tom Hanks Surprises University Students With Virtual Commencement Speech

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Tom Hanks, Coronavirus, Graduation
Tom Hanks gave a commencement speech at Wright State University's virtual graduation.

Beloved Actor Tom Hanks surprised students at Wright State University by giving a Commencement Speech at the school's virtual graduation.

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"You are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures,” the Hollywood legend said. “You started in the olden times, in a world back before the Great Pandemic of 2020. You will talk of those earlier years in your lives in just that way."

"Part of your lives will forever be identified as 'before,' in the same way other generations tell time like 'that was before the war, or 'that was before the internet,' or 'that was before Beyoncé.' The word 'before' is going to carry great weight with you," he added.

"You’ve gone from student to graduate with more that is expected of you than to just be an American. You’ve had to be responsible Americans. You’ve had to be good Americans. Good Americans that have made sacrifices that have saved lives.

"You will be enlightened in ways your degree never held in promise," Hanks said. "You will have made it through a time of great sacrifice and great need. No one will be more fresh to the task of restarting our normalcy than you — our chosen ones."

Hanks, 63, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this year.

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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