By Associated Press
Talladega, AL – Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged graduates of Talladega High School to find their passions in life and follow them.
Rice a native of Birmingham, was the school's graduation speaker Thursday night. She said she first studied music as a college student and later pursued international studies, although she said she "didn't have a Russian bone in [her] body."
She told the 150 graduates and their families that many years later, when she was leaving the White House lawn via helicopter with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife in 1990, she thought she had made a good decision in changing her major.
Talladega Mayor Brian York gave Rice a key to the city and declared Thursday "Condoleezza Rice Day."