Limits. I cannot play instruments, i cannot sing like james taylor, i cannot put on a fashion display like lady gaga, but i can set a goal and make it happen. Just like you did. So i am here to urge you to use the same skills and determination that got you to this day to help you get to a lot more days that are just as meaningful. I once had a day like this. Graduation. For me, it was a celebration of fighting for what i believed in. The president talked about this. I grew up in a family that had a lot of ups and downs, and college wasnt in the cards for me. Nobody in my family had made it through college, but i wanted to be a teacher and i believed that i would be a good teacher. And i thought that was a goal worth fighting for. The path was tough, i borrowed money, i married young, i dropped out of school, i went back and, finally, i got lucky. I got really lucky. We moved to a place that was about 30 miles away from a commuter college where the tuition was 50 a semester. I held on for dear life. And i pieced together and off classes, including correspondence courses, and i graduated. And best of all, i got that job teaching special needs kids in public schools. I loved that job. I think i was good at it. But i had a baby on the way and back then, there were rules about pregnant teachers. So i had to give it up. I won a big battle. And that made me bolder. And each time i fought for something i believed in and won, i believed i could do it again. The challenges got bigger, the results got better. The twists and turns became more and more unexpected. So i just want to fastforward to a fight from a few years ago. At the time of this fight, i was a professor. Just like your teachers. For about 20 years, i had been doing research on what was happening to americas working families. I saw people getting slammed cheated on, credit cards pulled, checked on mortgages, and it got worse and worse. I watched as big banks raked in billions of dollars by trapping people in debt. And i watched as millions of families lost their homes, their paycheck, lost their hope. What really burns me deep was that there was plenty of law to stop those banks, but the Government Agencies that were supposed to enforce those laws couldnt be bothered. I wanted to change that. And that is when i had an idea. What if we built a new agency . What if we gathered up all those laws about mortgages and consumer loans and give to one agency and we gave that agency the tools to enforce the laws . A sort of financial cop for american families. And then we held that agency accountable . A tough cop who was willing to take on wall street and big banks. What would happen then . I talked to everybody i could about this idea. I went to washington, i talked to folks in congress, policy gurus, newspaper people, anybody i could. Pretty much all of them told me two things. First, that is a good idea. That is actually an idea that could make a difference. And the second thing they told me, dont do it. Think about that. They gave me 1000 reasons not to do it, but the reasons all boiled down to one very painful point. You cant win. Dont do it because you cant win. Dont even try because you cant win. You will never get to this Consumer Agency passed into law. They pointed out that the biggest banks in the country would hate this idea and they would send hundreds of millions of dollars to stop it. And they said to me, you are just a teacher. Youve got nothing. Youve got no money, organization, political juice. It wont happen, so dont even try. I heard this, but there was something deep inside me that just refused to believe them. They said dont try, and what i heard was try harder. And that is what i did. I jumped in and i fought for that Little Agency because i truly believed it could make a difference. The way i figured it, you dont win anything that you dont fight for. So i was ready to fight as hard as i could. The fight was just about what you would expect, only worse. The banks hated the idea of a new Consumer Agency. Duh. These guys have built whole Business Models around treating people and they spent millions and millions of dollars to make sure that there was no cop to stop them. They hired an army of lobbyists, and i say that, no joke. As the battle heated up when i went to down to washington to fight for this little Consumer Agency, those lobbyists thundered through the halls of congress in herds. People like me were pushed against the wall like we were invisible. The biggest, most powerful lobbyists in washington, they thought they could eat us for lunch. And sometimes when i was pushed up against those walls, i thought they just might do it. But i didnt back down, and neither did anyone else. We kept looking for ways to make it happen. Writing papers, organizing groups, this is david taking on goliath. We won. We actually won. [applause] senator warren i still cant believe it when i say thats little Consumer Agency, the Consumer Financial protection bureau, is now the law of the united states. [applause] senator warren now, before you go, and you say to yourself when this is all over, you say, i just clapped for the creation of a government agency, i must be turning into a total nerd. Let me just remind you about this Little Agency. It has been up and running for just about four years now and it has already forced the biggest Financial Institutions in this country to return more than 5 billion directly to people they cheated. That is government working for us. [applause] senator warren that is how it works. [applause] senator warren so, look, i get it. I know that building an agency to keep people from getting cheated on credit cards and mortgages may not be on your bucket list. It sure wasnt on mine. At least, it wasnt on my bucket list until it was on my bucket list. And that is really the point. I believed in the good that this Little Agency could do and so i fought for it. Even when people told me i couldnt win. The truth i learned along the way was pretty basic. You cant win what you dont fight for. So, i say to each of you, you want to change something . Nobody is going to give it to you. Youve got to fight for it. I wanted to be here today not just to be on the same stage where the boston symphony orchestra, james taylor, and lady gaga do their stuff. I wanted to be here because i believe in what you can do. I believe in what you can do if you fight for what you believe in. No matter the odds, no matter who you are up against, if you fight, Amazing Things can happen. Amazing things will happen. After all, we are here to celebrate your amazing graduation and to think of many more Amazing Things to come. So, thank you all and keep fighting. [applause] senator warren thank you. Thank you. Hampshire senator delivered this years commencement address at Penn State Law School where she graduated in 1990. She would go on to earn a law degree from Philadelphia University before becoming a prosecutor for the New HampshireJustice Department and eventually the states first female attorney general. This is just under 20 minutes. Senator ayotte well, first of all, i want to thank you for that very kind introduction and i am honored to be here with president baron, trustee benson, members of the university administration, the board of trustees, faculty, parents family, friends, but most of all, i am honored to be here with the class of 2015. Congratulations on what you have accomplished today. [applause] senator ayotte i have to say, it is wonderful to be back here on campus at penn state. And with what you have accomplished in receiving your law degrees today, you can look back on the years of hard work in a law school and take great pride with what you have achieved. And you can look ahead with confidence in knowing that you have received an excellent education at the Dickinson School of law here at penn state. And that this education will allow you to reach your full potential and to make a difference. I have to say, i regret there was no law school here when i went to penn state as an undergrad, and so im so glad to see all of you here and graduating from this Great Institution today. This campus as an undergrad, i had the opportunity to have my First Experience with the triad leadership as a student leader. And it was here not only that i gained a phenomenal education, but it was also here that i had the opportunity to appreciate the reward of what it means to work with other people, to get things done, to try to solve problems for the greater good, and i have to say i have to mention, i did have a lot of fun here, too, because who doesnt like penn state football . One of the things i can assure you as you go forward to all of you today is that not only have you received a law degree that is going to prepare you for success in the future, but with this graduation, you are joining one of the greatest alumni communities in the world. Because everywhere you go, you will find penn state is staters. You will find a network of people who share your network of experience, who went to mentor you, what to help you. So really take advantage of that Alumni Network as you are treading a path in the career because i can tell you, we have a very active alumni group in the state of New Hampshire and theres not a place you will go in this country well you wont find a fellow penn stater and around the world. It seems like yesterday i was sitting where you were, and i remembered feeling full of lots of optimism, fear, and also in debt, i have to say, which im sure many of you are. Many of you may know what your next step is. Some of you are going to go off and work for a judge or you are joining a law firm, working in a company, or perhaps becoming a government lawyer. And you may think you have the the plans chartered already for your career, but i can assure you there is one thing about your career path as you go for it right now there are going to be many twists and turns along the way. And rather than thinking of those bands in life bends in life as a detour, look at them as opportunities. Opportunities to find a career that you love in law