LYNCHBURG, Va. – The vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, spoke to the Liberty University Class of 2019.
Pence spoke at the university's commencement ceremony at Williams Stadium.
Religion and Liberty University often go hand in hand. After all, the school's slogan is, "Training champions for Christ."
Faith played a big role for many of the graduates who got their degrees Saturday morning, and Pence made Christianity the core of his speech.
"America needs men and women of integrity and faith now more than ever," Pence said.
When Pence stood before the more than 8,000 Liberty University students who made it to campus for their graduation day, he made sure to put faith first.
"As you strengthen your foundation of faith, you will be strengthening the foundation of America," Pence said.
The grads now have a Liberty degree to make their foundation stronger, even if the road to Lynchburg had a few curves along the way.
"It's crazy how fast the time went and that I'm actually here," Liberty University graduate Samantha Santos said.
"It's such a relief," graduate Haley Klinge said. "It's been, like, seven years, so I'm just glad it's over with. It was a lot of hard work, but it's totally worth it."​
It may not be Sunday, but Pence still had time for a sermon.
"Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs," Pence said.
He encouraged the Class of 2019 to keep believing under all circumstances.
"You need to prepare your minds for action, men and women," Pence said. "You need to show that we can love God and love our neighbor at the same time."
The tassles are now on the left, but before the grads marched into the world, the vice president wished them well with a very familiar phrase.
"Right after we get done making this country great again, you're going to make America greater than ever before. Congratulations, class," Pence said.
Liberty awarded an honorary degree to Pence, as well as recently retired Rep. Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte got the honor from his old colleague in the House, Dave Brat, who is now the dean of the university's business school.