President Bush, speaking at the winter commencement of Texas A&M University in College Station on Friday, December 12, named Biloxi resident Kendrick Kennedy as one of the most inspirational people he has met during his presidency.

"I thought I would share a few of the most powerful examples of courage and service that I have witnessed over the past eight years," Bush said.

"America is blessed to have citizens... whose hearts are big enough to share the greatest gift of all - the gift of love.

"Kendrick Kennedy shared that gift... after Hurricane Katrina struck his hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi. Even though his own house had been damaged, Kendrick put others first - helping family members find shelter, and cleaning up debris in neighbors' yards."

There's another piece of the story: Kendrick is blind.

"A few years before the storm, he lost his sight - and his job. But he refused to let that hold him back. He enrolled at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. I met him there when I spoke at his commencement (in 2006). He went on to the University of Southern Mississippi, where he became the first blind student to graduate summa cum laude. Now he's in law school in Ole Miss. And this good man has set a high goal - to serve our country as a justice on the Supreme Court."

Earlier this year, the University of Southern Mississippi selected Kennedy as one of 17 students, earning a degree from the Gulf Park campus, for the 2007-08 Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. In a news release the school described Kennedy as a management information system major in the Southern Miss College of Business, and said he served as president for both the Southern Miss Gulf Coast Student Government Association and the National Federation of the Blind - Gulf Coast chapter.

Kennedy couldn't be reached for comment.

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