Tom Hanks offers 2020 graduates special diploma during the pandemic: 'You have displayed honor, dedication'
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Tom Hanks is once again leading by example during the coronavirus pandemic.
After the Academy Award-winning actor delivered a virtual commencement speech for Ohio college seniors, he went a step further by designing and signing (along with Albert Einstein) a special pandemic-themed diploma.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"To all the Grads of 2020, you Chosen Ones! Print this up on a sheepskin! Hanx," he wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of the diploma.
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The special document reads: "Distinct labors in the face of the Great Pandemic. Successful completion of your education despite the hardships imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. You have displayed honor, dedication, wherewithal and good citizenship."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}To lighten up the moment, Hanks also posted a photo of his 1974 senior year high school photo.
In early May, he gave an inspiring commencement speech for the Class of 2020 at Ohio's Wright State University Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Picture.
"I am calling you 'chosen ones' because you have been chosen in many ways. First, by the temperament and discipline, you've lived by. By the creative fires that are inside of you. And the instinctive lunges of your desires," Hanks said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TOM HANKS SHARES PHOTO OF PLASMA HE DONATED TO HELP FIGHT CORONAVIRUS
The 63-year-old added, "You succeeded because of the aid and the love of others that are in your lives, without a doubt. But you have succeeded mostly because you and you alone chose to do so. You are the chosen ones."
"Part of your lives will forever be identified as 'before' in the same way other generations tell time like, 'Well, that was before the war,' or 'That was before the Internet,' or 'That was before Beyoncé.' The word 'before' is going to carry great weight with you," he continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TOM HANKS AND RITA WILSON RETURN TO LOS ANGELES AFTER TESTING POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS IN AUSTRALIA
Hanks reassured the class that there will also be an "after" and although the nation is uncertain of its future now, we must persevere.
"You will have made it through a time of great sacrifice and great need and no one will be more fresh to the task of restarting our measure of normalcy than you, you chosen ones," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The entertainer and his wife, Rita Wilson, survived COVID-19 after they were diagnosed with the virus in March while filming his next movie in Australia.
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After a short hospitalization and many weeks of isolation, he and Wilson returned to Los Angeles and have been doing well during their recovery process.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In an effort to help find a vaccine, the couple donated blood plasma in April.