--- title: Barack Obama at Joplin High School: Commencement Address description: Read Barack Obama's commencement speech at Joplin High School in 2012. canonical: https://time.com/4341639/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-joplin-high-school/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:32:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:40:57.697Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Joplin High School og:description: "You can serve as a reminder that we’re not meant to walk this road alone" og:url: https://time.com/4341639/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-joplin-high-school/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3951c0ed3d62e98/698893e78e06016e12465f3a/obama-2012-joplin-h-s.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Delivers Commencement Address At Joplin High School og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Joplin High School twitter:description: "You can serve as a reminder that we’re not meant to walk this road alone" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3951c0ed3d62e98/698893e78e06016e12465f3a/obama-2012-joplin-h-s.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Joplin High School  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:32 PM UTC  President Barack Obama greets Joplin High School graduates at the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2012 in Joplin, Missouri on May 21, 2012. President Barack Obama greets Joplin High School graduates at the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2012 in Joplin, Missouri on May 21, 2012.Pool/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:32 PM UTC Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/21/remarks-president-joplin-high-school-commencement) from Obama’s speech at Joplin High School in Joplin, Missouri in 2012. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341639/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-joplin-high-school/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341639/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-joplin-high-school/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Joplin High School","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:32:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:40:57.697Z","description":"\"You can serve as a reminder that we’re not meant to walk this road alone\"","url":"https://time.com/4341639/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-joplin-high-school/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3951c0ed3d62e98/698893e78e06016e12465f3a/obama-2012-joplin-h-s.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/bltf3951c0ed3d62e98/698893e78e06016e12465f3a/obama-2012-joplin-h-s.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Delivers Commencement Address At Joplin High School","caption":"President Barack Obama greets Joplin High School graduates at the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2012 in Joplin, Missouri on May 21, 2012.","creditText":"Pool/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/4341639/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-joplin-high-school/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Joplin High School"}}]}] ```