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“For all the doubt, you are the most competent, capable, caring, equipped generation in American history.” -- Joe Biden, University of South Carolina

Vice President Joe Biden gave millennials an ego boost during his Friday commencement speech at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.

He told the class of 2014 to ignore “cynics” who might doubt their generation’s ability to tackle the future and said the more-than-1,000 students were graduating at a unique and changing time in history.

Biden, who also delivered the commencement speech at Miami Dade College on May 3, spoke about having close ties to the Palmetto State -- including a friendship with Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham.

“In an election year, he wouldn’t want me to acknowledge that, I suspect,” Biden said.

“I probably have the best job on and off the planet.” -- Rick Mastracchio, University of Connecticut

It wasn’t so much what NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio said during his commencement speech on Saturday, but where he said it from -- space.

Mastracchio, who graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1982, spoke to graduates from his alma mater’s School of Engineering while orbiting 260 miles above Earth, inside the International Space Station.

By video, he told the class of 2014 how he finally landed the job with NASA in 1996 after three separate interview attempts.

“You become an astronaut the same way you accomplish any goal -- through hard work and perseverance,” Mastracchio said.

He’s scheduled to return to Earth on Tuesday.

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