EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine, Bridget Brink, spoke to a crowd of students and staff at East Grand Rapids High School on Wednesday.
Brink received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation. She was a graduate of the district in 1987.
During her speech, Brink spoke to the students about agency, and their ability to shape the world as tomorrow's leaders.
Afterward, Brink spoke to 13 ON YOUR SIDE about her job in Ukraine, which she said was to support the country in its war against Russia's full-scale invasion.
"We spend our days and our nights thinking about how to support Ukraine on the battlefield," said Brink. "So that it can make the progress that it has made so far, but also support them in the economy, including by helping them open up the Black Sea ports, which is really essential to getting things like Ukrainian grain to the world and also to survive the winters. It's now been two winters where Russia has very brutally attacked the energy grid to try to put millions of people into the cold and dark."
She called it the "biggest conflict in Europe, the biggest threat to Europe's peace and security since World War II."
Brink said her interest in diplomacy began in the halls of East Grand Rapids.
"I remember very fondly when George H. W. Bush came to visit my high school, right here in this very gym, when I was in high school and he was the vice president," said Brink. "It was a big honor to have the sitting vice president come to visit us."
She also noted the unique link to a former president in East Grand Rapids in Gerald R. Ford.
Beer City Dog Biscuits founders Leslie Hooker and Suzanne Wilcox are also Community Service Award honorees.