Congressman Braley delivered the commencement address at the Hawkeye Community College Spring Graduation ceremony on May 16, 2008. In his address, he touches on some of his own life experiences and the importance of friends and family.
Congressman Braley of Waterloo was born in Grinnell, Iowa. He grew up in the small town of Brooklyn. Braley and his wife, Carolyn, are the parents of three children.
Braley learned the value of hard work from his parents. When Braley was young, his father was severely injured at the grain elevator where he worked. Because of the accident, Braley’s mother had to drive more than 26,000 miles back and forth across Iowa to get her teaching degree so she could go back to work and help pay the bills.
Braley applied for his first job when he was in third grade and has been working ever since. He delivered newspapers, baled hay, detassled corn, worked at a grain elevator, and drove dump trucks. To help pay his way through college and law school, he worked as a restaurant server and in highway maintenance, among other jobs.
Braley has been actively involved in his community for many years and was honored with the Cedar Valley Mayors’ Volunteer Performance Award in 1998 for his service. He served as president of the Waterloo Dollars for Scholars program, president of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa, a board member of the Visiting Nurses Association, and a member of the Iowa Legal Aid board of directors.
Braley was elected to the US House of Representatives on November 7, 2006. He serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Small Business Committee. He is the chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology and the vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
