Congresswoman Michele Bachmann addressed more than 750 Oral Roberts University graduates as the commencement speaker on May 3. Bachmann, an alumna of ORU, encouraged graduates to live their lives “with the end goal in mind.”
“It is my privilege to pass the baton on to you, and I want to adjure you: Be confident. The education you received here at ORU will put you on a path to achieving great things as our nation’s future leaders,” Bachmann said. “You need to dream big, because we need you to dream big. You need to work hard, because our country needs you to work hard. You need to take risks, because our country needs you to take risks.”
Bachmann went on to praise ORU’s professors and to reiterate Chancellor Oral Roberts’ vision by encouraging students to “go into every man’s world, fearlessly and boldly. Proclaim the free gift of the gospel of salvation in Christ alone. There is no higher privilege and mission in life than that.” She continued by sharing, “It is your faith and it is the people that you will touch that are going to last forever.”
In 2006, Bachmann became the first Republican woman elected to represent Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was listed in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2011 and ran for president of the United States in 2012. She was the winner of the Iowa Straw Poll during her run for the presidency. Bachmann is a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Financial Services Committee. In Congress, she has taken the opportunity of serving on the Intelligence Committee to regularly advocate for peace through strength to ensure America’s national security.
Prior to serving in the U.S. Congress, Bachmann served in the Minnesota state Senate from 2000-2006. Before holding elected office, Bachmann worked on hundreds of civil and criminal cases as a federal tax litigation attorney.
Bachmann is a graduate of Winona State University. After receiving her J.D. at the O.W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University and an L.L.M. in tax law at the College of William and Mary, she, along with her husband, Marcus, moved their young family to Stillwater, Minnesota. There they opened a small-business health care practice that employs nearly 50 people. Bachmann has parented 23 foster children and five biological children. She will not be seeking re-election in the next congressional elections.
Watch the full speech at http://youtu.be/cbW1YrUtYHk.
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