USA: WASHINGTON: CHELSEA CLINTON GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL

• Report rights infringement
• published: 21 Jul 2015
• views: 1451

English/Nat Chelsea Victoria Clinton graduated from high school on Friday, and her father President Clinton spoke at the ceremony about the emotion of the occasion. Under sycamore trees on the northwest Washington campus of the private Sidwell Friends school, the parade of 122 graduates marked 17-year-old Chelsea's first steps towards adulthood. It was graduation day for Chelsea Clinton on Friday, and the President and First Lady arrived at the elite private school just moments before the graduation ceremony started. Chelsea officially ended her high school career at Washington's private Sidwell Friends School, with a place at university her next challenge. And the teenager's special day was made even more so with a commencement speech made by none other than her father. President Clinton stayed away from politics and the state of the nation on his daughter's big day and offered a little fatherly advice for Chelsea and her classmates. It was a moving speech for President Clinton. Although cameras were banned from the ceremony the President's voice could still be heard as he recalled Chelsea's favorite bedtime stories and offered some fatherly advice to her classmates. He told the graduates to be optimistic and brave, and asked them to be patient if their parents seemed sad. SOUNDBITE: (English) "So I asked you at the beginning to indulge your folks if we seem a little sad or if we act a little weird. Though we have raised you for this moment of departure and we're very proud of you, a part of us longs to hold you once more as we did when you could barely walk. For what it's worth here's my advice. First be brave, dream big and chase your dreams" SUPER CAPTION: President Bill Clinton The President also light-heartedly told the teenagers, no matter what anybody else says, you can always come home again. Clinton refused the help of script writers for his commencement speech, and he reportedly agonised over his words in the Oval Office. After the ceremony was over, some who knew Chelsea said she gave her father this advice about his speech. SOUNDBITE: (English) "The advice that Chelsea apparently gave him to be wise and keep it brief, and that the boys in the class wanted it to be funny as well." SUPER CAPTION: Laura Lee, Nephew Graduated with Chelsea Because it's a Quaker school, the graduates of Sidwell friends did not wear caps and gowns, nor did they march to the popular graduation processional. School officials refused to break tradition and let the press into the ceremony while Chelsea's classmates refused to be drawn as they left the school grounds. Off camera, they said they were used to the President and First Lady attending school functions and felt Chelsea deserved a little privacy. The first daughter and her friends finished classes last Friday, and spent the week signing yearbooks, collecting awards and partying at their riverboat prom. The Clinton's only child leaves in the fall for California, and her freshman year at Stanford University. 17-year-old Chelsea has lived under the public eye since she moved into the White House at the age of twelve. The world has watched the Clinton's only child grow up, but from a distance. Her parents have scrupulously shielded their daughter from the spotlight and have adamantly denied any interviews with Chelsea. But her growth from child to young woman has also been evident as Chelsea increasingly accompanied her parents to public occasions, enjoying the odd boogie with her father at the Inaugural Ball. Chelsea also accompanied the First Lady, Hillary Clinton on a trip to South Africa earlier in the year, and appeared much more at home in front of the media. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/bdc058ac10e664c887b7f4f22ec239fb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork