Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Santa Barbara on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine, education in the United States and how the country can stay competitive with China’s tech industry.

Westmont College hosted Rice at its annual President’s Breakfast in the Grand Ballroom at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.

During a talk with college President Gayle Beebe, Rice discussed issues facing the United States and how the country can respond.

Rice said it is time for the war to end so the Ukrainian government and its people can begin rebuilding its democracy.

“I think in situations like this, nobody really wins because there’s been so much devastation. But if Ukraine can continue its sovereignty, its independency, its security and gain prosperity, Ukrainian people will have won something from the horrors of this war,” Rice said.

She said that even though Russia may retain some of the territory it gained, Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot feel like he won. She added that the goal is to prevent Putin from threatening the Ukrainian nation ever again.

Another issue Rice discussed was education and how it is always targeted by totalitarian governments.

She added that keeping people from reading prevents them from expanding their horizons. One example she gave was when the Taliban prevented young girls in Afghanistan from learning how to read.

She also expressed concern about reading scores in the United States and how the issue affects democracy as a whole.

“This worries me about our democracy at this particular point in time because you cannot participate fully in the pursuit of happiness, as the founders called it, if you don’t have an education, and these days, if you don’t have a high-quality education,” Rice said.

Another topic Rice touched on was the technological advances made by China in the last few years.

The one she highlighted was the new AI model that was released by the Chinese company DeepSeek. The unveiling of the program sent waves through the tech field because it was created on less advanced technology.

“We have assumed that our technological superiority would be sustained,” Rice said.

Her advice to the United States of America is to “run hard and run fast” because it needs to win in those fields.

Friday marked the 20th year of the President’s Breakfast. It was Rice’s third time speaking at a Westmont College event; she spoke at a 2011 President’s Breakfast and gave a commencement speech in 1999.

One of the attendees of the event was Shana Benjamin, who said Rice has been an inspiration to her since she works in public service, and the former secretary of state’s comments on education connected with her.

“I think the biggest thing that stood out is probably talking about the national disgrace with the American education system and the fact that (…) at the federal level, we’re not really creating programs and solutions that actively target the kids in lower-income communities. And (what she said about) the reading and math levels. If we don’t have that then we don’t have a democracy,” Benjamin said.

Another attendee said he was impressed by Rice’s view of the future of the country and the checks and balances that protect democracy.

“It’s easy to get caught up in pessimism about the divisiveness in our country these days,” Jim Mannoia said, “but her optimism that those structures will help protect us was very encouraging.”