SALEM — Gov. Deval Patrick got to rub elbows with Cheryl Callahan last night during North Shore Community College's 43rd commencement, where he also spoke about rubbing elbows with his good friend, President Barack Obama.

The Wakefield woman, and last night's student speaker, received a certificate from the community college's Wellness and Healing Arts program with a 3.65 grade point average. She did so 29 years after she graduated from high school.

Patrick said her desire for education mirrored, in a way, his path from living on welfare on the south side of Chicago to Milton Academy and beyond.

"I want to especially thank Cheryl Callahan for a wonderful example," Patrick said, " ... what your life had been and your journey to this place, and I want to thank you for the example you set."

Her story, of not graduating from high school on time, of being encouraged by a sixth-grade teacher who became her lifelong mentor, and her desire two years ago to become the community college's commencement speaker, also mirrored another event in Patrick's life.

"My sister got her college degree at age 50 from UMass Boston, so I know a little something from up close about the grit and determination it takes to keep going and get through."

Patrick spoke to more than 900 graduates, the largest in the community college's history, at Salem State College's Richard B. O'Keefe Field House. A boisterous group of graduates rose to applaud Patrick when he was introduced and, later, he thanked Callahan and all the graduates for the example they set.

"Go ahead, shout out for her, go ahead," Patrick said.

North Shore Community College President Wayne Burton said Patrick's message of "hope and change" made him "the ideal and quintessential community college commencement speaker."

Patrick said he was glad to be here but doubted any of the graduates would remember what he or anyone else was saying as they looked forward to picking up their degrees.

Patrick said he knew the feeling well.

After graduating from Milton Academy in 1974, Patrick graduated with honors from Harvard College, the first member of his family to be formally educated beyond high school. He worked in the Darfur region of Sudan as part of a United Nations youth training project before heading off to Harvard Law School in 1979.

He went on to become a lawyer in private practice and President Bill Clinton's assistant attorney general for civil rights in 1994. He was a member of corporate boards and held key positions for Texaco and Coca-Cola. In 2006, he was elected the state's first African-American governor.

Patrick touched on the economic crisis that has squeezed the middle class and threatens to make the American dream, won through hard work and education, all that harder to come by.

"I invite you to inhabit and embrace it all. Because crisis is a platform for change. Here at North Shore Community College, you have been intensely exposed to differences in thought and culture, to new ideas and new ways of looking at old ideas."

Patrick also gave those gathered a glimpse of what it's like to attend an annual dinner for governors at the White House each February. Under President George W. Bush, the dinner was elegant and fun, but broke up at 9:15.

"This year, there was an electricity about the occasion," Patrick said. "This year, after dinner, when we moved into the East Room (of the White House), there was Earth, Wind and Fire.

"And, when the slow dance started, which we all know is the universal signal that the evening is coming to a close, the president, who is dancing with the first lady, leaned over to me and said, 'Deval,' he said, 'This is when we make our move.' That's when I knew that change had come. And yet the real work has just begun."

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or eforman@salemnews.com.