KANSAS CITY, Mo. — “Don’t blow an entire summer’s worth of paychecks on what you are sure will be a life-altering Drake concert.”
That was some of the sage advice, alumnus and current White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest imparted on Barstow School graduates Monday.
Earnest delivered the commencement address to the Class of 2016, a speech he says he penned aboard Air Force One while flying to Saudi Arabia.
His job gives him the chance to use his own discretion to influence political debate. Monday he was hoping to influence the paths of graduates.
“I want to try to impart a little knowledge to graduates who have been such a critical part of this community for some time and are about to enter the wider world,” Earnest said before the speech. “Hopefully they are going to bring some skills and some values that will make the world a better place.”
Earnest said before Monday’s speech he was probably more nervous to give it, than any press briefing. He graduated from The Barstow School, 11511 State Line Road, in 1993. In 2014 he was named President Barack Obama’s press secretary.
“Graduates should be optimistic about their future. We live in changing times, it’s easy to focus on the tragedy and on the things in life that don’t work as well as we’d like, but the truth is there’s never been a better time to be graduating from high school,” Earnest said.
