--- title: Barack Obama at the New Economics School: Commencement Address Transcript description: Here's everything President Barack Obama told the New Economics School Class of 2009 during his commencement address in Russia. canonical: https://time.com/4338052/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-new-economics-school/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:26:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:35:19.678Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Barack Obama's New Economics School Commencement Speech og:description: "You get to decide what comes next" og:url: https://time.com/4338052/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-new-economics-school/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86cef4140df022df/698893be524fc0f960df80d3/obama-commencement-new-economics-school-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama, speaks at a graduation ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Barack Obama's New Economics School Commencement Speech twitter:description: "You get to decide what comes next" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86cef4140df022df/698893be524fc0f960df80d3/obama-commencement-new-economics-school-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at The New Economics School in Moscow  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:26 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama, speaks at a graduation ceremony at the New Economic School in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama, speaks at a graduation ceremony at the New Economic School in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, July 7, 2009.Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr—Bloomberg / Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:26 PM UTC President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at The New Economics School in Moscow on May 7, 2009\. The President told new graduates that the world’s destiny was in their hands and called on them to build a better world. “You get to decide what comes next,” he said. “You get to choose where change will take us, because the future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground; the future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create.” --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4338052/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-new-economics-school/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4338052/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-new-economics-school/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at The New Economics School in Moscow","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:26:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:35:19.678Z","description":"\"You get to decide what comes next\"","url":"https://time.com/4338052/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-new-economics-school/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86cef4140df022df/698893be524fc0f960df80d3/obama-commencement-new-economics-school-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Barack Obama","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/barack-obama/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86cef4140df022df/698893be524fc0f960df80d3/obama-commencement-new-economics-school-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Barack Obama, speaks at a graduation ceremony","caption":"U.S. President Barack Obama, speaks at a graduation ceremony","creditText":"Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr—Bloomberg / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4338052/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-new-economics-school/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at The New Economics School in Moscow"}}]}] ```