President Barack Obama says the graduating seniors of Joplin are a “source of inspiration” to him and the nation. Obama delivered the commencement address at Joplin High School last night, one day short of a year after a tornado killed 161 people and destroyed a third of the city.

Obama says the story of Joplin is one of a community coming together in response to tragedy. He says the graduating class can use it as a lesson that, in his words, “we can define our own lives not by what happens to us, but by how we respond.”