I am happy today to wake up in the United States of America where last week we did what we have been doing for almost 250 years. We voted. We voted for a vision of America based on diversity and inclusion; a vision that meets the challenges of the world and welcomes anyone with the initiative and ambition to get here.
Here’s a small sample of that vision as expressed by past U.S. Presidents from both parties:
President Obama: “What makes someone American is not just blood or birth but allegiance to our founding principles and faith in the idea that anyone – from anywhere – can write the next chapter of our story.”
President George H. W. Bush: “ This is America… A brilliant diversity spread like stars like a thousand brilliant points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.”
President Kennedy: “Perhaps our brightest hope for the future lies in the lessons of the past. The people who have come to this country have made America.”
When I was student, President Ronald Reagan often referred to America as a “Shining city on a hill.” In his last speech as President he explained what he meant:
“I've spoken of the shining city all my political life… …in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.”
The common vision of those Presidents is of an America made better when it looks outward welcoming anyone with the talent, ambition and will to succeed.
Last week the people of the United States voted to open that door little bit wider. Wellspring will hold that door for you and help you walk through it.
We are proud to work in partnership with U.S. universities to welcome international students whose talents, diversity and ambition remind us all that America is a nation built by hard working people who came together from around the world. Some Wellspring students will find opportunities in the United States after graduation. But most will return home building on what they learn here to help their own families, communities and countries succeed.
As the founder and CEO of Wellspring, I could not be more proud of that mission.
All of us at Wellspring look forward to working with you to help your students fulfill their dream to study in the United States.
Greg Shrader
Wellspring International CEO
Wellspring CEO On The US Election