Georgia One Graduates Class of 2027

Commencement Address to the Paulding County High School Class of 2026

By Daniel Davenport

[Applause. Daniel walks up to the podium, smiles, and looks out at the graduates.]

Good morning, Paulding County High School Class of 2026!

To the parents, the teachers, the faculty, and most importantly, to the young leaders sitting in front of me in those caps and gowns: Congratulations. You made it. To all those who helped me tell Brandon Cunningham’s story. Thank you.

Take a look around this room. Look at the person sitting to your left, and the person sitting to your right. Today, you are all graduates. But tomorrow? Tomorrow, you become the architects of a future that the world hasn't even seen yet.

Now, when I look out at you, I don't just see high school students. I see the future developers, the future entrepreneurs, the future protectors, and the future leaders of Georgia and this country. I see future coin holders. ANSEM safety network validators!

Paid validators, not underpaid workers.

Some of you might be wondering, "Who is this tech guy up here, speaking about fair pay and what does his story have to do with me?"

Over twenty years ago, I was sitting right where you are. I did not earn that much then. My first job paid $5.10 an hour. I think the raise was a nickel, maybe a dime (laughs, and smile).

Value money, because its not given away easily. Fall in love with working for a dollar. Fall in love with peacebuilding work. We need engineers in peacebuilding. I need computer scientists in the new peace sector we must build. I need you if you are teachable, humble, and can follow our protocols.

Paulding County, I didn't start my career with a billion dollars or a hundred companies. I started with a desire to learn and a willingness to serve. I joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps. My job back then was as a cryptographic courier. That's a fancy way of saying I was trusted to deliver highly coded, top-secret messages for the United States government. Later, I worked as an electronics technician for the Coast Guard, repairing massive national security ships.

In those early days, I learned a lesson that I want to hand to you today: Your mind is your greatest asset, and security is built on discipline.

As the years went on, technology changed. The world moved into digital currencies and artificial intelligence. Because I understood how codes and security worked from my military days, I was able to transition into the world of cryptocurrency and AI. I became the developer behind the ANSEM community token. I helped build digital rules and software networks that allowed people all over the world to trade and connect securely. I am now the lead Chief Strategic developer for the ANSEM corporation.

I didn't stop there. I kept pushing, because I wanted to solve massive global problems. Today, I operate more than 100 companies. Recently, one of my companies received a $5 billion evaluation for intellectual property. We created interference detection technology designed to protect the most important systems on Earth—our election systems and our nuclear security infrastructure.

I don't tell you about the $5 billion valuation or the 100 companies to brag. I tell you this because I am proof of what happens when you refuse to let anyone put a ceiling on your potential. I am a proud Christian tech inventor from right here in Georgia, and I am telling you that there is absolutely nothing stopping you from building the next multi-billion-dollar idea.

But let me tell you what matters to me even more than business success. What matters to me is you.

When I speak to NAACP youth, or at conferences or work with any student, my primary mission is to get these advanced ideas into your minds. I want you to understand blockchain. I want you to understand artificial intelligence. I want you to look at the technology of tomorrow and say, "I can build that. I can code that. I can lead that."

As a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and as a Master Mason, I was taught that true greatness isn't measured by how much money you make. True greatness is measured by how much you give back to the community and how many people you lift up along the way.

Before I challenge you each three times, I want to seed this phrase to you. Persevere. My masons and Sigmas know this, but you students must learn it too. No one ever knew what an election interference deterrent company did. Yet, I taught them.

I was creditable because my knowledge of nuclear missile deterrence, and I only had that opportunity because of perseverance. See when I was younger people did not like me because of my skin color, my big head, my height, and some even said I talked too much. Yet, I learned to be me and perform to achieve my goals.

I performed to get around — peacefully those who opposed me. Did that make me a coward?

You are not how you perform. Your identity is something separate. Your skills are attached to your identity. The more skills you have the more capacity you have to perform as needed to get around those who oppose you.

0Study what it means to perform, and study the differences of “who” you must perform to and for.

So, Class of 2027, as you step out of Paulding County High School and into the real world, I leave you with three challenges as you go out to become a peacebuilder:

1. Be Curious: Never stop learning. The technology that will define your career might not even be invented yet. Be the one who invents it. If you are not a tech person, learn to be —- at some level. Just be curious about tech.

2. Be Unhackable: Build your life on a solid foundation of integrity, hard work, and character. Don't let outside noise, doubt, or negative people interfere with your positive signal.

3. Lift As You Climb: No matter how high you go—whether you run for the State Senate like I did, build a global business, or serve your country—always reach back and pull the next generation up behind you. I served our nation in war, and peacetime —- and many of you must have the courage and dare to challenge yourself to military service too.

Paulding County, the world is waiting for your ideas. Go out there, think big, protect your vision, and change the world. Whether you are a tech geek, or the geeks who do not get tech, you matter. Most importantly, how you lived matters. So live as a Brandon lived.

Be a hero.

Congratulations, Class of 2027! Thank you!

[Waves, steps away from the podium to loud applause]