The former Secretary of the Treasury added humor to his address at the GW Law School’s Diploma Ceremony Sunday, turning anecdotes from his career into lessons for the Class of 2011.

The Honorable John W. Snow shared how he was called before the Senate Ways and Means Committee to defend the government’s 2004 budget. One senator, Snow said, began to lambast him about America’s economy, berating him for the lack of jobs and the weakened dollar, before vehemently calling for Snow to be impeached. He had been secretary for just three days.

“One of the lessons of a good law school is when your opponent is digging himself into a good hole and making himself look ridiculous, let him do it,” Snow said.

Snow served as Treasury secretary from Feb. 2003 to June 2006 under President George W. Bush. A 1967 GW Law graduate, Snow also served in several senior roles at the U.S. Department of Transportation under President Gerald Ford.

He went on to emphasize the quality of the education that graduates experience at GW, praising the classes, faculty and location of the University. Law school itself is the “best liberal arts education in the world,” Snow said, highlighting the grasp of history, critical thinking and principles graduates develop after three years.

Snow told the class sitting before him that they were in charge of their own destinies now more than ever. He said that the most important lesson he’s learned in his career is to take control of its direction, urging the graduates to take advantage of the limitless pathways they’ve developed due to their intellectual skills.

“You leave this law school with a deep intellectual capital. An intellectual capital that will allow you to do anything you want to do,” Snow said. “My advice would be simply this: as you think about those opportunities, follow the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘Be your own star. Look to yourself. Don’t let somebody script your own life for you. Be the author of your own life and your own destiny.'”