Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk addressed hundreds of Hillsdale graduates during the college’s 2026 commencement ceremony, emphasizing, among other virtues, the importance of being lifelong learners and how her late husband embodied this throughout his life.  

Charlie Kirk was a proponent of Hillsdale College, and partook in many of the institution’s online courses.

“Every time Charlie finished a Hillsdale program, he would screenshot the certificate of completion and he would send them to me every time. I know he’d send them to the team as well,” she noted. “He was very proud of them and he had every right to be. It was something that elevated his thinking to be a thought leader and really become a serious person, not just a political talking head, but someone who truly sought out the beautiful things in life, the good, the true. And he really took that seriously because he loved learning. And that and that’s what set him apart just as all of you. You guys love learning. And I would tell him and he would like to hear it, but I love telling him because it was honest.”

Charlie Kirk’s learning helped him to “recognize his duty to pursue truth and to defend liberty,” she said, which supplemented his leadership abilities. 

“And Charlie was able to see things on a multi-dimensional level, which was really powerful to witness. He sought to order what was disordered and came to the table with solutions instead of more problems. He was very solution-oriented. That’s the prime characteristic of an entrepreneur. But he had solutions whether that be for the government or for the culture.”

“And that’s what all of you are called to do,” Kirk continued, addressing the students toward the conclusion of her speech. “Each of us must order his own house, live rightly, and aim for high and beautiful things. But what does that mean for you? For the students that are sitting here, for the graduates, it means that responsibility has now settled upon you. And that’s very important. Not as a burden meant to overwhelm you, but as a calling meant to ground you.”

“You’ve worked hard for this. You’ve earned it. And as you start day one as a graduate. Build carefully. Choose wisely. And aim not at what is easy or immediate, but what is beautiful and true.”