Subject: MUST READ from Nevada: Elko Daily Free Press: Commentary: Proud to have Hillary Clinton at UNLV
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 13:21:57 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*Elko Daily Free Press: Commentary: Proud to have Hillary Clinton at UNLV*
<http://elkodaily.com/commentary-proud-to-have-hillary-clinton-at-unlv/article_c5a48f1d-9ee8-58a5-bef1-8b126969ebdc.html>

By Gregg Potter

As a proud graduate of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, I am thrilled
that Hillary Clinton is speaking at the UNLV Foundation’s annual dinner
Monday night. She is one of the most well-known and respected women in the
world, and UNLV is lucky to have her. Her attendance will raise money for
the University, the Clinton Foundation, and will add to the long list of
work she has done to promote education in the United States and throughout
the world.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in early July that the UNLV
Foundation had already raised an impressive $353,000, and that it expects
to make a profit for only the third time in the event’s history.
Considering that was months ago, before individual tickets had even gone on
sale, there is no doubt the event will be a huge success. And there is no
doubt that Hillary Clinton will be the reason why.

The UNLV community won’t be the only one benefiting from Hillary’s
appearance -- the speaking fee is going directly to the Clinton Foundation,
her family’s charitable foundation that contributes about $20 million every
year to address the most critical problems facing people in this country
and all over the world, including education.

But Hillary Clinton has done so much more to promote education than just
raise money.

After law school, she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund, the country’s
leading child advocacy organization that strives to level the playing field
for all children by ensuring access to a quality education, among other
things. In Arkansas, she led the effort to reform the state’s educational
system and improve academic standards. In the Senate, she fought to expand
access to early childhood education for low-income children and make
college more affordable and accessible. As Secretary of State, she made
advancing education of girls around the world a major focus of U.S. foreign
policy. And now, through her work at the Clinton Foundation, she’s launched
the Too Small To Fail Initiative to close the achievement gap for
low-income children, and the CHARGE program to allow 14 million girls in
the developing world attend secondary school.

She’s taken real action that has made a real difference in the lives of so
many people – including me.

I grew up in a rural Wisconsin town of 400 people. My family, like most in
the town, didn’t have a lot of money. But my mother worked hard to provide
for my brother and me, and to ensure that we could have more opportunities
than she did. It’s what Hillary calls “the basic bargain of America: no
matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and play by the
rules, you will have the opportunity to build a good life for yourself and
your family.”

Even though UNLV is one of our country’s great public universities that
provides the quality education of a top-tier school without the exorbitant
price tag, I still couldn’t cover the costs on my own. Luckily, I received
a Pell Grant, which are need-based grants from the federal government that
do not have to be repaid. I took out student loans to pay for the remainder
of the costs.

Because of Hillary Clinton’s work in the Senate to increase funding to the
federal Pell Grant program and to reduce the burden of student loan debt, I
was able to receive a top-notch education without accumulating monstrous
debt.

And it allowed and – inspired me – to pursue my education further at the
Clinton School of Public Service, the nation’s first school to offer a
Master of Public Service degree. Stemming from Clintons’ commitment to
making the world a better place, the Clinton School combines academics with
hands on service projects. From the concepts I learned in the classroom to
my work to reduce the rejection of LGBT refugees in South Africa, the
Clinton School gave me the tools to create positive social change. After
graduation, I formed Project Kinect, to share those tools with other doers
and help them make a real impact.

There is no better person to speak about education than Hillary Clinton,
who has spent her entire career increasing educational opportunities for so
many people, including me. I know we all will welcome her with open arms.