At a graduation ceremony Sunday for the Clinton School of Public Service, former President Bill Clinton said the students and their predecessors "have more than exceeded my wildest dreams."
He urged the class of 2016 to help tackle the world's problems, adding, "Your service, your compassion, your commitment and your understanding about how to manifest it to advance the common good are more needed today than ever before."
Since it was founded in 2004, the school and its students have launched 660 public service projects in 78 countries.
The school, which is part of the University of Arkansas System, has attracted people from across the nation and around the world. The 41 students participating in Sunday's ceremonies in Little Rock came from Nigeria, Uganda, Benin, China, Liberia, Venezuela and Kenya.
Thirteen were from Arkansas.
This year's class tackled projects stretching "from Cambodia to Croatia, from Paraguay to the Philippines, from Ireland to Liberia," Dean Skip Rutherford said.
Twenty-seven students received their degrees during Sunday's program near the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock. Fourteen others are still completing their coursework.
This was the school's 10th graduation and the third time that Clinton has been the commencement speaker.
The nation's 42nd president told the audience that, despite the world's problems, there is reason for optimism.
"The trend lines are better than the headlines," he said.
But he acknowledged that there are challenges ahead.
Holding up a page from Sunday's New York Times, he said it contained two very different "portraits of the modern world." One higher up described Muslims and Jews working together to complete a solar project in the West Bank. One lower down described a Buddhist monk who was murdered in a Bangladeshi temple; investigators were trying to determine if the slaying was the work of Islamic militants.
"Every day, everything you do, everything you say, every example you create will determine whether the top story or the bottom one shapes the future, and we all have a role in that," Clinton said.
Overall, he expressed hope for the future, predicting that life spans will continue to extend, Alzheimer's will be cured, prosperity will expand and peace will spread. He also told students that they have received "a precious gift" -- a wealth of choices and decades of time.
"Now nearing 70, I can tell you it doesn't take long to live a life, but the journey is a glorious thing," he said.
After speaking, eligible students were bestowed with "all the rights, privileges, responsibilities and obligations" that accompany a University of Arkansas degree.
As each graduate took the stage, was handed a diploma, greeted by the dean and congratulated by the former president.
Clinton spoke with each of them and the roll call of names paused each time, not resuming until each brief conversation had concluded.
While the program stretched on, the occupant of a Loblolly Creamery truck looked on with increasing nervousness, fearing that her products would melt by the time the event concluded.
Just in time, however, the final student exited the stage, the closing song concluded and school officials invited the crowds to enjoy the free ice cream. The two flavors: Clinton School Crunch (aka Rocky Road) and Hail to the Chocolate Sorbet.
Members of the class of 2016 said the Clinton School program had enriched their lives.
Dustin Lane Smith, who grew up in Pocahontas, said the program was "life-changing, just an incredible experience all around."
The Clinton School enabled him to spend six months in Tanzania working with a solar engineering training school.
It also gave him a chance to visit with a former president who welcomes people, regardless of their sexual orientation.
"I got to introduce him to my boyfriend which is, like, revolutionary," Smith said. "From where I come from, it's not something people do in small-town Arkansas."
Joyce Akidi, a schoolteacher from Uganda, said she had received an "amazing" welcome when she arrived in Little Rock and that the kindness of those around her had helped her flourish.
"Arkansas has people who have heart. I don't know if it's just for international people, but they made me feel at home here," she said. "If it wasn't [for] that, I think I would've dropped out of school."
Now Akidi looks forward to returning home to help her fellow countrymen.
At the Clinton School, "I learned that people are out there who need us, that we should always go out and give a hand to those who need it," she said.
Metro on 05/16/2016