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On the Occasion of the Presentation of the Plaque Commemorating JFK's Commencement Speech to the Class of 1959

October 24, 2005

On the morning of June 15, 1959, then-Senator John F. Kennedy delivered an inspiring address to the B-CC graduating class of 1959 that included these words:

(T)he measure of our superiority may very well
depend upon the extent to which our country utilizes
and develops the talents of its students...
We want from you not the sneers of the cynics
or the despair of the faint-hearted. We ask of
you enlightenment, vision, illumination.

On the evening of October 24, 2005, representatives of the class of 1959 commemorated that historic event at a brief ceremony during a meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Education. A plaque highlighting those words, flanked by a picture of the future President on one side and the cover page of his speech on the other, with a medallion of JFK in the top center, was presented to B-CC principal Sean Bulson.
U.S. District Court judges Roger Titus and Peter Messitte made the presentation on behalf of their class of 1959 classmates. Representing the Kennedy family was Mark Shriver, JFK’s nephew and a Montgomery County resident. He spoke of President Kennedy’s legacy for today’s youth and how his spirit of service to humanity has lived on not only with the class of 1959, but also in current B-CC students (text of speech in pdf). Principal Bulson thanked the class of 1959 and promised that the plaque would occupy a place of honor in the main hallway of B-CC’s administration building.
Below are photos of the evening's presentation. The last photo shows where the plaque is located in the school's main entrance lobby. Click on any image below to start the slide show. (Many thanks to Bill Mills, class of 1958, for his wonderful photos of the presentation, #01-#20.)


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