In the video, Hanks said the students have been \u201cchosen\u201d in many ways, including because of their ability to overcome the challenges of the times.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures,\u201d said Hanks. \u201cYou started in the olden times, in a world back before the Great Pandemic of 2020. You will talk of those earlier years in your lives in just that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanks said the students are finishing their Wright State careers during \u201cthe great reset, the great reboot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve gone from student to graduate with more that is expected of you than to just be an American,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve had to be responsible Americans. You\u2019ve had to be good Americans \u2014 good Americans that have made sacrifices that have saved lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanks told the students they will be enlightened in ways their degrees from Wright State never held in promise.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will have made it through the time of great sacrifice and great need,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd no one will be more fresh to the task of restarting our measure of normalcy than you \u2014 you chosen ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis speech means a great deal to all of us,\u201d said Deer. \u201cWe\u2019re so grateful for his inspiring words and the care he took to give what was clearly a very carefully written speech. He is one of a kind.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanks, an acclaimed actor, producer and director, charmed students, faculty, staff, alumni and others during a visit to Wright State in 2016 to dedicate the Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures<\/a>. He also helped lead Wright State’s Rise.Shine. fundraising campaign<\/a> that raised more than $167 million.<\/p>\n Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for the coronavirus while on location for a film in Australia. They have both fully recovered from the virus after being quarantined in Australia.<\/p>\n In the graduation video, Hanks told the Wright State students they will be the ones to form the new structures, define the new realities and \u201cmake the new world, the world after all that we have been through.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe future is always uncertain,\u201d he concluded. \u201c\u2026We are certain of one thing on this day \u2014 you will not let us down. Thank you. Congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tom Hanks delivered a personal video message that was played during a virtual ceremony for students graduating from Wright State’s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures. Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2020\/05\/Tom-Hanks-video-508x286.jpg\")
<\/a>Joe Deer, artistic director and chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures, had asked W. Stuart McDowell, who is retiring after being artistic director of the department for 26 years, if Hanks would be open to sending a short message. McDowell, who has a longstanding friendship with Hanks, came through and the video message was sent to Deer the evening of May 1.<\/p>\n