Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, the widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, called for the next generation to “defend liberty” during her commencement speech at Hillsdale College over the weekend.
“Through his learning, Charlie was better able to recognize his duty to pursue truth and to defend liberty, and this responsibility he felt to God. He felt it for our family, to our country, and that was born from what he learned,” she said, adding, “As you continue forward in life, I want you to kind of embrace the similar blueprint of my husband, where he loved to point out that God made us purposeful beings and continue forward in life with clarity and intention.”
“And you will come to understand that life is not defined by the abundance of options, but by the weight of the choices that you make within them. And those choices, more often than not, are not dramatic or obvious, but quiet and compounding, forming the blueprint of your life long before anyone else can see what you are building.”
Announcing that Kirk would address the class of 2026 in March, Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn said, “Charlie Kirk became a national and international sensation, and he built something amazing. At his memorial service were the great, the near-great, and tens of millions watching. But that isn’t why we loved him. We loved him because he was, at heart, a student who worked hard to get it right. Erika Kirk, brave and widowed, intends to carry on. And we will help her.”
