"Mrs. Edelman's children are all achievers, showing how she has succeeded in creating a strong family base," Prasad says. "She embodies the values of the Class of 1993 in her dedication to effect change and to serve in accordance with her conviction to her beliefs."

Prasad, Hunt and Landers say they expect a rousing speech from Edelman today, judging from past performances.

In a 1992 speech sponsored by the Graduate School of Education's Urban Superintendents Program and the Principal's Center, Edelman chastised the stagnant socio-economic structure of American society.

"America is in danger of becoming two nations, one part privileged, the other deprived," she said in a voice that has been described by Hunt as "resounding like a trumpet, awakening us to the miseries of the helpless."

"The poor are getting poorer," Edelman continued, "the rich are getting richer, pitting American against American, increasing our fears, our poverty rates, and our racial divisions."

In that speech she called upon political leaders to "make a commitment that no American child gets left behind," and she decried the continual scapegoating of the poor, imploring politicians to "get specific" on issues and to stop the "general bashing of the impoverished."

"Marian Wright Edelman has clearly made an emotional investment in what she is trying to do, and that comes across when she speaks," Landers says. "She is a warm and caring person and she channels that warmth and caring into larger endeavors than most people do."

Those larger undertakings include caring not only for her biological children, but for all those who need her love and assistance.

Edelman has demonstrated through a quarter century of consistent social activism that "children are our most precious resource," which is good reason to believe that today's address to the Class of 1993 will be received as warmly as a piece of loving advice from a doting mother