At the Milken Institute School of Public Health commencement ceremony Thursday morning, speakers shared their own experiences in public health and encouraged graduates to write the next chapters of their own.

The ceremony was held for the first time at the Smith Center, an indication of the school’s growing enrollment, particularly online, Dean Lynn Goldman said.

Ushered in with the music of bagpipes, graduates heard from Goldman and other speakers about the importance of using their public health degrees to help others, particularly those in underserved communities with limited access to healthcare.

1. ‘The transformative power of passion’

Keynote speaker Debra Eschmeyer, executive director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative to combat childhood obesity, told graduates to never underestimate the “transformative power of passion,” which she said led her from a small dairy farm in Ohio to the White House.

Eschmeyer said her own public health journey began about 12 years ago, when her husband, Jeff, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 25-years-old.

She knew there was no way to reverse his diagnosis, but she decided to work to prevent Type 2 diabetes, which develops later in life.

“I knew I could do something, I could do something to prevent that suffering,” she said.

She co-founded FoodCorps, a national non-profit organization to push for healthier environments in schools across the country.

Eschmeyer asked graduates to reflect on what they wanted to do with their public health education.

“I want to make sure you guys take a moment today to think about your story. To think about why you’re here, why you’re driven and why this is your passion,” she said.

2. A road to recovery

Student speaker Melinda Hasbrouck looked back on the events that interested her in pursuing her master’s degree in public health policy.

As a second-year law student, Hasbrouck said she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and bulimia, after her father became sick with multiple sclerosis and her younger brother was injured in a shooting.

“During quiet times I often thought about the struggles of underserved and underrepresented populations. I thought to myself: ‘I’m educated, I’m strong, I’m resourceful. If harm is coming to me, what was happening to those who could not support themselves,'” she said.

Hasbrouck now leads Our Door Community Wellness Center, which provides support to those with mental health or substance abuse disorders and, Hasbrouck says, promotes a simple message: “Recovery is real.”

Hasbrouck said all graduates in the audience have “authored their own” public health stories.

“Together our impact will far exceed ourselves as we pave the way for healthier generations,” she said.

3. Healthcare for all

Goldman highlighted the school’s work throughout the year on global health crises from the Ebola and Zika viruses to the impacts of climate change, which she said demonstrate the commitment of faculty, staff and students to closing the healthcare gap around the world.

“Public health is about ensuring the conditions that make people healthy. Everyone should have the opportunity to live longer and healthier lives, lives free of disease and disability, mental illness, injury and substance abuse. Lives in which everyone has access to healthcare,” she told the graduates.

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