Watch Joe Biden’s Speech at Harvard

photo via AP

Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to soon-to-be Harvard grads Wednesday at the college’s 2017 Class Day ceremony, where he urged students to pursue careers in public service and to be proud of their accomplishments at the prestigious Cambridge institution.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that disengaging from the system that you think is broken will hold you harmless from the system’s failures,” Biden said in his speech, according to a summary in the Harvard Gazette. He also cited a recent study from the Harvard Crimson that showed undergrads were not hopeful about the direction the country is headed and are steering away from jobs in government. “[O]ne thing I’m absolutely certain — absolutely certain — of is this graduating class, this generation, is fully and completely capable of changing the trajectory of this country today. You’re better equipped to tackle the challenges that lie ahead than my generation was. You’re the best educated, most talented, most engaged generation this country has ever, ever produced. That is not hyperbole. That is a fact.”

Biden, who has embraced his status as the most-memed vice president in American history, also sported a pair of aviators and grinned for a selfie with College Dean Rakesh Khurana. “Let’s break the internet!” he said.

The Class of 2017 will hear from Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard dropout who founded Facebook, on Thursday afternoon.