Remarks As Prepared: SUNY Chancellor King Delivers Commencement Remarks During Capital District EOC Graduation Ceremony
June 26, 2026
Troy, NY – State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. addressed the Capital District Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) graduating Class of 2026 as its commencement speaker. The Capital District EOC, led by Executive Director Michael C. Markou, is one of 12 centers statewide that provides access to educational offerings, job training, and support services, as well as helping address challenges like food and housing insecurity. This year, the Capital District EOC, which is hosted by Hudson Valley Community College, and a part of the SUNY System, celebrated more than 300 graduates.
Below are Chancellor King's remarks as prepared:
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Hello, thank you so much for having me here today!
And thank you, Michael, for that kind introduction.
I want to take a moment to thank the many educators who took time to be here today, including Hudson Valley Chair of the Board of Trustees Neil Kelleher, Hudson Valley Community College President Michael Brophy, and the HVCC team.
It means a great deal that SUNY's Educational Opportunity Centers have so much support from elected officials, policymakers, leaders, and educators throughout the state.
It's truly a joy and an honor to be here today to celebrate and congratulate our EOC graduates. This is what SUNY is about; your success here as students is everything to us!
All of your accomplishments are signs that SUNY is fulfilling one of our core promises: to be an engine of economic opportunity and upward mobility.
I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the friends and family members celebrating with our graduates.
Completing any academic or career program takes determination, hard work, and sacrifices—and your loved one likely leaned on you for support throughout their journey to today's commencement. This ceremony celebrates you, too.
Can we have a round of applause to say thank you?
One of the things I love most about visiting with students on campuses across the system – but especially at our EOCs, where students are more likely to come from high need communities, be veterans, or justice-impacted New Yorkers – is hearing about all the people who make student successes possible.
So, to all the faculty, staff, and peers who mentored, uplifted, and encouraged our students to persevere through challenges and moments of doubt: thank you.
I want to take some time to share a little bit of my story with you.
My mother was the first in her family to go to college. She attended CUNY's Hunter College, and became a public-school educator in Brooklyn, where she met my father: the first Black public-school principal in Brooklyn. My parents both devoted their careers to the New York City public schools.
But they couldn't have known the difference the New York City public schools would make in my life. They both passed away when I was a kid, and it was NYC public schools in Brooklyn that saved my life.
My mom passed away suddenly when I was 8, and after that I lived with my dad who was struggling with Alzheimer's.
I didn't know what he would be like from one night to the next—some nights he would speak to me, some nights he wouldn't say a word; some nights he was sad, other nights angry, even violent.
During that awful period, school became my refuge. It was the one place in my life that was consistent, safe, and nurturing. If not for Mr. Alan Osterweil, my teacher in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades at P.S. 276 in Canarsie, I truly believe I wouldn't be alive today.
In Mr. Osterweil's class I had hope and purpose. We read the New York Times every day. We did productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream—Shakespeare in elementary school—and Alice in Wonderland (where I was the rose with big red, felt petals sticking out of my head). We went on fantastic field trips to the American Museum of Natural History, the botanic gardens, and the ballet. P.S. 276 was the one place where I got to be a kid when I couldn't be a kid at home.
In Mr. Osterweil's class, I not only got to engage with, see, and imagine a world beyond my own, but I formed real relationships. My ideas mattered, because Mr. Osterweil was genuinely curious about what 8-and-9 years olds had to say about the Cold War or famine in Africa. He asked us serious questions. He treated learning like it was a grand adventure.
And although Mr. Osterweil's class planted seeds that led to my becoming a social studies teacher, then a principal, and later New York State Education Commissioner and U.S. Education Secretary under President Obama—my path from there wasn't linear, of course.
After my father died when I was 12, I moved around between family members and schools. And like many teenagers who have experienced trauma, I was angry, and I didn't know what to do with that anger. I rebelled against adult authority and was even kicked out of high school (I'm the first U.S. Secretary of Education to hold that distinction!).
It would have been easy for others to have looked at me – a Black and Latino young man with a family in crisis and no respect for authority – and given up, but I was lucky that teachers and a school counselor were willing to give me a second chance.
At every critical moment in my life, there was a person and a place that believed in my potential. They believed I was more than the things that had happened to me.
One of the reasons I love coming to our EOCs is that I hear so many stories that remind me so much of my own. Just like I found a safe haven, a second chance, and felt “seen” by Mr. Osterweil, I know the Capital District EOC is in the “seeing” business.
This is a community that sees the full picture of all that students who come here carry—and offers acceptance, patience, and grace.
Eity Bishwas is a student in the Math 1/Language 1 program who moved from Bangladesh to America. She has a physical disability, did not graduate high school in her country of origin, and has consistently worked to further her knowledge of the English language.
Despite the obstacles she faces, Eity shows up every day she can and has continued to progress in her studies. Her good nature, perseverance, and hard work epitomize the characteristics that make EOC students so incredible.
This is also a community that sees the extraordinary steps some students have to take to succeed once they get here—often because they've lived it, too. One of the students I had the pleasure of meeting at Caucus Weekend was Michael Rivas.
Michael has had an incredible and inspiring journey that you will hear more about very soon. But his story is a testament to the impact that Educational Opportunity Centers have on students: connecting people and changing lives.
Our mace bearer, Tom Glasser's passion and dedication, has furthered the impact of the Capital District EOC. Tom earned his bachelor's degree in technology education at SUNY Oswego.
He has been teaching the Building Trades program right here at the Capital District EOC for the last 30 years!
The Capital District EOC has been in existence for a total of 60 years, meaning that Tom has been around for half of its existence, helping hundreds of students discover their passion and find their way into the skilled trades.
Like Tom, Mr. Osterweil, and so many other teachers and mentors, the Capital District EOC staff can see possibility and potential in students beyond what they can see for themselves.
And best of all, this is a community – and a graduating class – that sees the ripple effects of setting an example and aspires to pay it forward.
Yasmin Hunter is a student in the academics program who returned to school while working through anxiety and other mental health challenges that often affected her confidence in the classroom.
Over time, she persevered through those challenges and has made remarkable academic progress in a short amount of time.
And in the process, she has become a confident classroom leader who willingly helps and encourages her peers.
So, today, I want to commend each and every one of you for seeing each other and supporting each other. And I want to ask for your continued commitment to paying that forward.
Because places like this cannot fulfill their full promise if people don't know what they offer, that they qualify, and that despite facing personal challenges they, too, can earn their GED, learn new skills, and earn credentials that open new doors to a promising future.
Let's spread the word we know is true throughout the Capital Region and beyond: the EOC is a lifeline, and a beacon of opportunity that helps students earn valuable skills, tuition free.
Each of you knows someone who could benefit from the Capital District EOC and who qualifies.
Each of you sees someone else in your community who could use a mentor or a helping hand. You can change their life just by sharing your own story of getting to this day, this moment.
As we celebrate the CDEOC's first 60 years of building brighter futures at tonight's event, the next 60 years are looking brighter than ever.
With bright futures in mind, I want to remind you all that today is a beginning, not an end.
We always say there is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker—and that place is still here when today is over. I hope many of you will continue your educational journey at Hudson Valley Community College, and after that at SUNY Albany, SUNY Empire, or another SUNY four-year institution.
To the Capital District EOC class of 2026: congratulations! I'm immensely proud and inspired by what you have achieved.
I can't wait to see the impact you make as your paths continue to unfold.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and annually one in three New Yorkers who earn a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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Holly Liapis
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