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Sen. Kaine recognizes graduating Virginia high school seniors with video contest

Posted at 7:37 PM, Apr 22, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-22 19:39:17-04

With many in-person graduations likely to be postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus, U.S, Senator Tim Kaine is launching a video contest encouraging Virginia’s graduating high school seniors to share a speech they'd like to give at graduation.

The “Everybody’s the Graduation Speaker” video contest asks students to submit a video of an original speech. Kaine will select speeches to feature on his Facebook page and website during May and June to celebrate graduates.

“One of the many groups of Virginians I’ve been thinking about during this challenging time is the graduates of the Class of 2020, many of whom won’t have the graduation experience they’ve been planning for a long time," Kaine said in a statement. "I feel a sense of loss about that, so I want to do something fun for them and give all high school seniors the chance to be a graduation speaker.

"I look forward to hearing the wisdom Virginia’s future leaders have to offer and sharing their inspiration with others. Let’s show Virginia what the Class of 2020 is all about."

Kaine is encouraging students to film videos of speeches that are 10 minutes or less and submit them to gradspeech@kaine.senate.gov by May 15.

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