10/20/09 - Madison County

By: Holly Deasy
hdeasy@wbbjtv.com
9:30 p.m.
 
One of the nation's foremost experts on foreign affairs spoke before thousands of West Tennesseans, Tuesday night.
 
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was the keynote speaker at Union University's 12th Annual Scholarship Banquet, which has raised $4.5 million in scholarship funds for Union students.
 
She arrived at McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport just before noon and was taken to Union University. There she spoke with students about her faith, her upbringing, the influence of her parents in her life and the importance of trying new things.

After a brief question and answer session, students said they could not wait to hear her address. "She was on the forefront on everything that happened during the past several years," said Union Student Body President Courtney Bragg. "She knows everything that happened in the White House. It's going to be huge to hear from her because she had a huge influence on the Bush administration and around the world."
 
During her keynote address before a sell-out crowd of 2,000 people, Rice spoke about challenges facing our country and how important it is to support our troops serving overseas. She also praised Union's work recovering from the February 5, 2008 tornado that devastated the campus.  "It's an inspiration to us in higher education that so much love and compassion came out after that and quite a miracle that no lives were lost," she told the crowd.

Rice is the Senior Fellow on Public Policy at Hoover Institution and professor of political science at Stanford University.
 
The banquet raised $500,000 that will go toward student scholarships.