In a commencement speech to nearly 1,500 graduates of Sacred Heart University sunday, First Selectman Pat Llodra told the assembled crowd to "be the change you see needed in the world," according to a release from the university.
Llodra delivered the speech at the 47th annual commencement ceremony for the Fairfield, CT-based Catholic university. She also received an honorary doctorate from the university.
"Find time in your life, in your busy schedules, to perform a service to others. That service is itself one of the greatest rewards you will experience in your adult life," she said. "Embrace every leadership opportunity – and make sure that your heart is the most active ingredient in that leadership function."
Llodra also spoke about leading Newtown in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 shooting.
"Our sense of self, our confidence and our surety that we are safe was destroyed in a five-minute hail of bullets," she said. "But that heinous act also set into motion a resolve that we would prevail, that this one event would not define us."
Llodra also offered her thoughts on human nature.
"I think we humans are basically good and kind," she said. "Given the choice, I believe that each of us individually and collectively would more often than not choose the good act over the evil act."
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