[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[May 22, 1997]
[Pages 651-652]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to High School Students in Clarksburg
May 22, 1997

    The President. Thank you very much. Well, did you see it?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. On the screen and the Internet?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. Well, you may have had the better deal, because it's 
cooler in here. [Laughter] Let me thank Danny Phares for his 
introduction. And I want to say I'm glad to be here with Governor 
Underwood and with Secretary of Education Dick Riley and with Cleo 
Mathews, the president of the State board of education. And you may have 
heard me say that her daughter, Sylvia, who is here today, is my Deputy 
Chief of Staff in the White House and she graduated from high school in 
Hinton, West Virginia.
    So I think that's a pretty good statement of West Virginia's 
education quality. And I have to tell you, I did not have an auditorium 
this nice when I was in high school. I love this school. Congratulations 
on having a beautiful, beautiful school.
    You heard the townhall meeting--I'm just going to come down here and 
shake hands with anybody who wants to come down and say hello. But I 
just want to say one thing to all of you. We are about to enter not only 
a new century but a new millennium, literally a time which happens once 
every thousand years. By coincidence, you are also entering a period in 
our history which will be very different from the past, different in the 
way people work, different in the way people learn, different in the way 
people relate to each other. And it can be the

[[Page 652]]

greatest moment of human promise in all history. It may be, if we do 
everything as we should, that young people your age and those coming 
along behind you will have more opportunities to live their dreams than 
any group of people who ever lived.
    But none of this will happen unless we continue to put top priority 
on education, continue to believe that all young people can learn, and 
continue to be dedicated to the proposition that everybody should have a 
maximum opportunity to learn as much as possible. So when you leave this 
high school, I hope you will keep that conviction with you for the rest 
of your lives and be dedicated to the proposition that not only you but 
all the young people coming behind you should have those opportunities.
    Thank you. God bless you, and good luck.

Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. in the theater at Robert C. Byrd 
High School. In his remarks, he referred to Danny Phares, student body 
president.