Angela Duckworth, a prominent professor of psychology specializing in the concepts of grit and perseverance and their relationship to education, leadership, and personal development, will deliver the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College Commencement address on Sunday, May 25, 2025. 

Author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, a cultural phenomenon that stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for 164 weeks, Duckworth will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree and be joined by three other honorary degree recipients:

• Mary Bonauto, the pioneering civil rights attorney whose landmark advocacy helped establish marriage equality in the U.S., will receive a Doctor of Laws degree. 
• Stanley Nelson, an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work amplifies untold histories and who mentors emerging filmmakers of color, will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts degree.
• Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts and a champion of public leadership and civic engagement, will receive a Doctor of Laws degree.

“This year’s honorary degree recipients embody the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ values of leadership, creativity, resilience, and purpose,” said President Garry W. Jenkins. “From expanding civil rights and redefining character development to telling our stories and advancing the public good, these individuals have shaped the world in ways that should resonate deeply with our graduates and their families.”

The 159th Commencement ceremony begins on Sunday, May 25, at 10 a.m. on the Historic Quad, with a livestream available on the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College website and social media platforms.

Mary Bonauto

The architect of legal strategies that advance equality, Mary Bonauto is a trailblazer in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. In 2015, she successfully argued Obergefell v. Hodges before the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down state bans on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, and in 2003 led the way to legal victory in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Bonauto is senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law). A 2014 MacArthur Fellow, Bonauto was recognized for her work to ensure “equal treatment and dignity for all people” and for “influencing debates about the relationship between the law and momentous social change.” In January 2025, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, for her contributions to democracy and justice. 

A longtime resident of Maine, Bonauto began her legal career in the Pine Tree State in 1987 during the height of the AIDS epidemic, establishing a pro bono practice to include discrimination issues and gaps in the law as to LGBTQ people and families. Thirty years ago this spring, she took a leading role in fighting a statewide referendum in Maine that sought to bar legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. 

Bonauto graduated from Hamilton College, majoring in history and comparative literature with membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law. Her profound influence in the fight for equality led former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank to describe her as “the LGBT community’s equivalent of Thurgood Marshall.” Bonauto deflects acclaim, saying, “This movement has involved so many people for so many decades that I feel a completely inadequate stand-in for all of those millions of people, for all they have done.”

Angela Duckworth

A leading voice in the study of human behavior, Angela Duckworth has revolutionized our understanding of resilience and success. Her research has also advanced insights into how people make choices in real-world contexts, from education to public health.

Using research data from West Point cadets, National Spelling Bee finalists, novice teachers, sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and other high-achieving individuals, Duckworth published Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance in 2016. A cultural phenomenon and No. 1 international bestseller, the book has shaped the way educators, business leaders, and individuals approach personal growth. With more than 35 million views, her TED Talk on grit is one of the most viewed of all time. 

Duckworth is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also the faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative and Wharton People Analytics. She has advised the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs, served as a McKinsey management consultant, and co-founded Character Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing scientific insights that help children thrive.

A former math and science teacher at public schools in New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, Duckworth is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, selected for “clarifying the role that intellectual strengths and personality traits play in educational achievement” and for “providing an alternative to the focus on cognitive skills now dominant in American education practice.” Prior to her career in research, she founded a summer school for underserved children that was profiled as a Harvard Kennedy School case study. She earned a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard College, a master of science in neuroscience at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Stanley Nelson

A multiple Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and recipient of the National Humanities Medal, Stanley Nelson is a director, writer, and producer of documentaries that capture the struggles and triumphs of the American experience, particularly through the lens of Black history and civil rights.

Through his more than 30 films, including Freedom Riders, Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, The Murder of Emmett Till, and Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Nelson has shaped public memory and historical discourse while elevating and amplifying voices never before heard. “What I’m trying to do is part detective,” he once said. “There’s a feeling that we all know about the civil rights movement. So part of it is finding new and exciting voices that we haven’t heard.”

A 2002 MacArthur Fellow, Nelson is an American Film Institute Guggenheim Symposium honoree and is mentoring a new generation of filmmakers of color through Firelight Media, an incubator for underrepresented voices in documentary film that he co-founded with his wife, the writer and producer Marcia Smith. In 2013, President Barack Obama presented the filmmaker with the National Medal in the Humanities. In 2022, Nelson received his first Oscar nomination for Attica, a documentary about the 1971 prison uprising, which won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary from the Directors Guild of America.

In a 2020 New York Times story on documentary film’s role in advancing racial justice, published in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Nelson said that moving images are “responsible for people getting out on the streets all over the country. You don’t have to start a movement, there’s already something happening and you can just join in.” Nelson earned a bachelor’s degree from the Leonard Davis Film School at the City College of New York.

Deval Patrick

Born on Chicago’s South Side, Deval Patrick has spent a lifetime championing justice, opportunity, and servant leadership. As governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015, he led the Commonwealth to a 25-year employment high and top national rankings in student achievement, healthcare coverage, entrepreneurial activity, and veterans services. He defended marriage equality and led the state’s response to the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.

Before serving as governor, Patrick was a partner at two Boston law firms, an executive at two Fortune 50 companies, and a civil rights attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he litigated cases involving voting rights and the death penalty. Under President Bill Clinton, he was the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, where his cases included the response to a wave of arsons targeting Black churches — the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history prior to 9/11. 

After leaving office, Patrick founded and led Bain Capital Double Impact, a fund to deliver both market returns and positive social and environmental impact. He was the founding chair of Our Generation Speaks, which brings together young Israeli and Palestinian leaders through entrepreneurship. Patrick is also the author of two books, A Reason to Believe and Faith in the Dream, which reflect on his commitment to servant leadership. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he is currently the David R. Gergen Professor of Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and a senior partner at The Vistria Group, a mission-driven investment firm.

In 2020, speaking to ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ alumni as the inaugural speaker for the Benjamin Mays Black Alumni Society, he noted that “government has had a role to play in helping people help themselves” — an apt reminder for anyone who has lived the American Dream.

Want to show your Bobcat pride? Celebrate your graduate with these lawn sign designs. Just download and order through your local copy & print business. Download the printable PDF to see the complete collection.

Printable Lawn Sign for 2023 Families

• Download the PDF 12×18
• Download the PDF 18×24

Thumbnail previews of each option:

Balloons and blue skies greeted the grads of the Class of 2022 as they prepared to complete their final assignment as ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ students: Process from Alumni Walk to the Historic Quad, take their turn to cross the Coram Library porch for their diploma, and then recess as graduates of ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College.

The best part about this assignment? Everyone passes.

From last-minute ‘fit adjustments, to photos with staff and faculty on Alumni Walk, to a joyous cap-toss, these are some of the highlights from the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Class of 2022’s big day.

Anticipation, happy tears, and relief were themes for the many family and friends gathered.

“I’m expecting to cry,” said parent Sandra Capo, who came to watch her son, Chris Capo ’22, an economics major from West Newbury, Mass., receive his diploma.

“It’s a huge accomplishment. It was quite the journey for us to see him go through the four years at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Even more than a feeling of accomplishment, there was a sense of having overcome many of the unprecendented obstacles thrown in their path. And now, their next step lies beyond the world of ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College.

With a bonhomie well-suited to the occasion, with sharp wit that made topical points, and with empathetic insight into the human experience, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, delivered the Commencement Address at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College on May 29, 2022.

I feel like we should start a day of celebration by doing something celebratory, which is…taking a selfie. If I could ask everyone to stand up a second and stretch, and while we’re doing that, I’m going to cue up my phone to take the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College Commencement selfie. OK, let’s do that.

You all looked great. I’m going to put that on Twitter later; if you don’t want to be on Twitter let me know now. I’ll blur out your face.

Thank you, President Spencer. It is an honor to be a part of ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝â€™ 156th Commencement and join you, the faculty, staff, parents, and the random old people who come to these things, as we celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2022.

Especially this year — the first “normal” Commencement ceremony since 2019. I don’t know what happened during those intervening years. Some guy must have suggested that you change things around. What a jerk!

I am also grateful that you and the Board of Trustees have chosen to award me with a Doctor of Science degree. That’s extremely meaningful,and I’m very excited to start putting that to use.

It’s also such a pleasure to share the stage today with other ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ honorands, whom you just heard about.

Graduates, none of you will remember this speech. Which, frankly, takes a lot of pressure off of me. 

We all like to think we got here on our own. But in reality, none of us gets to where we are on our own. When I graduated from college, I thought I had it all figured out. I was independent. I was a one-man wolf pack. But the truth is, I was basically a house cat — completely dependent on others, yet fully convinced of my own independence. 

We all have someone who helped us along the way, so I want to take a moment to recognize the parents and family members of the graduates who are here today.

Just remember: If you like what I have to say today, my name is “Nirav Shah.” If you don’t like what I have to say, just remember that my name is “Sanjay Gupta.”

Graduates, I ask that you also thank them for supporting you for the last four years. And also to remember that commencements are like weddings: they go on for a long time but they are pretty much for your family.

Many parents in the audience – especially if they are not residents of Maine – are looking at me right now and wondering the same thing. Who is this guy? Why is he here? Was the travel budget for Commencement speakers cut? The best they could do is a guy from down the street?

Just remember: If you like what I have to say today, my name is “Nirav Shah.” If you don’t like what I have to say, just remember that my name is “Sanjay Gupta.”

Many months ago, when President Spencer asked me to deliver this year’s Commencement Address, I pledged that I would take the honor seriously and commit to the careful craft of writing a speech in the same manner that many of that many of you, the graduates, committed to your senior thesis or capstone project. 

So last night, after downing a bunch of Red Bulls and literally reaching the end of Twitter, I started writing.

There is an uncanny correlation between speaking at the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Commencement and then dying 30 to 50 years later. I need to have an epidemiologist at the Maine CDC look at this. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the pandemic, it is that correlation always equals causation. 

I looked at the list of prior ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Commencement speakers. Coretta Scott King, may she rest in peace; former Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, may she RIP; anti-apartheid leader Bishop Desmond Tutu, may he RIP; renowned physicist Freeman Dyson, may he RIP; civil rights icon, the Rep. John Lewis, may he RIP.

When I looked at that list, my first thought was, “Man, why do all the preceding ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Commencement speakers end up dead?” What is up with that? There is an uncanny correlation between speaking at the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Commencement and then dying 30 to 50 years later.

I need to have an epidemiologist at the Maine CDC look at this. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the pandemic, it is that correlation always equals causation. 

It’s meaningful being here today. It was three years ago, almost to the day, that my father died. He had a progressive illness, so his death, while painful, was not unexpected.

I think that he would have liked Maine. The mountains, the ocean, the solitude. One of my regrets is that he never got to see Maine. And he never got to know the Maine that my family and I have come to know, to love. 

He would have enjoyed being here today, too, seeing all of you graduate. Hearing me speak with you. It would have made him proud. 

Just like many of you, my dad came a long way. He went from picking mangoes in rural India to medical school. When he came to the U.S. in the 1970s, he worked as a busboy at the Gold Coin restaurant in Chicago, while he studied for his exams.

On the day he passed his exams, he walked in to work and sat down at a table. His boss barked at him and asked why he wasn’t working. My dad replied, proudly, that he was a doctor now and he wanted a cup of coffee. 

One of my life’s privileges was to spend the last five months of his life with him and my mother down in Houston, Texas. One day, while driving back from a medical appointment, my dad and I were stuck in traffic.

Above us was a burned out, old railway bridge over the interstate. And on that bridge, there was graffiti. It wasn’t just everyday graffiti. It was graffiti with meaning. There, on the rusted metal, someone had spray painted two words. 

The two words were elegant in their simplicity, compelling in their directness, and poetic in their brevity. Two words that struck me and have stuck with me and that I’ve spent the last three years thinking about. 

Be Someone. Be…Someone.

That’s it. Two words that capture how my dad himself lived his life. How I try to live my life. And how, today, I’d like to urge you how to live your lives.

Like any good poetry, as Ms. Giovanni can tell us, the phrase admits many interpretations. Are you supposed to be someone? Or to be someone?

Today I offer you three ways that my father exemplified those words. Through humility, through humanity, and through humor.

Let’s start with humility, which is at the heart of Being Someone.

For me, humility comes down to saying the three hardest words in the English language: “I don’t know.”

But in the face of a global pandemic, no one has a monopoly on knowledge or expertise. And yet so many are reluctant to say that they don’t know the answer to something. Instead, they just talk. 

I used to think that being intelligent, being someone, involved having all the answers. Not just some of the answers. But all the answers. This had a few implications: It led me to think that intelligence came from accumulating the largest warehouse of knowledge. Of minutiae, of trivia.

For me, being smart — being someone — was like having the only pin at a balloon party. And achievement was walking around popping everyone else’s balloons. 

Frankly, this approach led me to being tremendously unlikeable. I really should have changed my middle name to, “Well, Actually.”

But in the face of a global pandemic, no one has a monopoly on knowledge or expertise. And yet so many are reluctant to say that they don’t know the answer to something. Instead, they just talk. 

Please, graduates, don’t do that. If someone asks you what time it is, do not tell them how to build a clock. If you don’t know what time it is, just tell them that.

The second quality of Being Someone that my father exemplified was humanity.

I always marveled at my father’s ability to communicate with people who had an entirely different worldview from him. Rather than dismissing those who asked him skeptical questions, he treated them with humanity.

COVID has brought the challenges of misinformation to the forefront. And when we think about things like life-saving vaccines, the stakes are literally life and death.

But here’s the problem: We often treat skeptics like a high school debater would. We rattle off a litany of reasons why they are wrong, trying to pop as many balloons as possible with our pin. Thing is, in the history of recorded thought, not a single mind has ever been changed via that approach.

Even worse, we sometimes condescend those who question whether COVID-19 vaccines are effective. We treat those with different beliefs as not just incorrect, but as ignorant. And we wrongly dehumanize them, or anyone who doesn’t see the world our way.

Please, graduates, don’t do that.

I know that vaccines work because I am part of a “chain of trust” with the people who have concluded so:.

I’ve been asked numerous times how I know that the COVID vaccines are effective? After all, I didn’t perform the studies myself. So how can I know that the vaccines are doing their job?

Rather than overwhelming the skeptic with a bunch of journal articles or dismissing them outright, I am honest with them. I know that vaccines work because I am part of a “chain of trust” with the people who have concluded so: scientists, physicians, statisticians. I trust the ultimate conclusion because I trust each of the links in the chain.

Skeptics are often part of a different chain of trust, a chain whose links comprise lived experiences and relationships, not necessarily data in scientific journals. They are susceptible to misinformation because they don’t belong to the same chain of trust that scientists, that many of us do.

So what to do? First, do not dehumanize those who disagree. Rather, recognize that their skepticism may stem from being part of a different chain of trust.

Second, Be Someone who builds trust: Ask why they believe what they do? And what evidence might change their mind?

The thing is, trust happens one conversation at a time. It is like a bank account, and you may have to make multiple deposits in the account before you can start making withdrawals.

As my dad saw it, the third quality of Being Someone was humor. It’s a quality he kept through the end. He learned his English-language sense of humor from an old TV show called M*A*S*H. I was just chatting with my team about my favorite scene from M*A*S*H, describing war. I urge everyone to take a look at that.

M*A*S*H was about an army field hospital in the Korean War. 

We need the levity that humor brings. Laughter during dark days doesn’t diminish the weight of the shadows; it just makes them a little bit easier to bear.

What I marveled at was his ability to bring humor into situations where I would have least expected to find it. Even in the room of a dying patient and their family, my dad always found a way to lighten the heaviest of moods.

That’s important because you are allowed to laugh. These days, humor is considered fraught in some circles. The world is dark, and there are those who suggest that a well-timed joke is not always appropriate. I don’t see it that way. 

Indeed, it’s just the opposite. We need the levity that humor brings. Laughter during dark days doesn’t diminish the weight of the shadows; it just makes them a little bit easier to bear.

That’s because the human brain is a magnificent thing. We can be happy and sad at the same time. You can hold grief and joy in your hands at the same moment. Humor is what makes us human.

And humor is important, especially now. When I think of each of you, you all came into consciousness while the world was still reeling from 9/11, into a world punctuated by terrorism, unending gun violence, economic recessions, environmental catastrophe, and now, a global pandemic. 

Tom Brokaw hailed the people who survived the Depression and World War II as the Greatest Generation, not for who they were, but for what they overcame. I don’t know what your generation will be called, but one thing is clear: The world has handed you much more than your share.

Your generation has seen so much  and responded with wit, creativity, righteous anger, and a determination to take the reality you’ve been handed and make it better. Even through COVID, you managed to flourish under absurd circumstances. For many of you, junior year abroad turned into junior year abridged.

But your humility, your humanity, and your humor have helped you Be Someone who is about to graduate from ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College. Many of you will go on to remarkable careers: in business, arts, and government. The rest of you will become podcasters.

No matter where you go, what you do, you are likely to be one of the smartest people in any room that you are in. The first thing you should do is find a bigger room. But the second is to remember the tools that ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ has given you. 

ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ has prepared you to choose to be anyone, any time, in any place. But my ask is far simpler: that you choose to Be Someone. Choose to carry the qualities of humility, humanity, and humor with you wherever you go next. 

Congratulations to the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College Class of 2022! Thank you for having me today. Thank you for honoring me today. Thank you for humoring me today. Go out there and Be Someone.

Teresa Chico ’22, this year’s senior speaker at Commencement, arrived at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ from New City, N.Y., as a first-generation college student with a single perception of her future: She would study science and pursue it through to a medical degree and a career as a physician.

This, she thought, was a story that her immediate family would be proud to share with her extended family. But soon, Chico found herself moving toward a different future, one where her sense of self and purpose would be better met by two majors within the humanities: Africana, and rhetoric, film, and screen studies.

She compares her changes during the past four years to her plants; she has two, a hard-to-kill pothos and a “dramatic” Chinese money plant. At first, the pressures and struggles she felt as a first-year biology major were overwhelming, but she pictured herself like the pothos. She wouldn’t bend under the pressure. Resilience was as rooted in her as it was in the houseplant that “basically takes care of itself.” 

But in the course of her time at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝, trying to nurture that Chinese money plant, she came to see that it was okay to require some care, to embrace the help she found on those hard days “where my professors watered me with their knowledge and support.”

Watch Teresa Chico’s Senior Address at Commencement on May 29, 2022:

A few days before her Commencement, Chico spoke with us about her experience as a first-gen student, how growth isn’t a linear process, and how one course changed the trajectory of her entire college career.

And, why she claps really loud when a cup is dropped in Commons.

Why did you choose to attend ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝?

Well, I’m first-gen, so a huge part of my college process was just being confused. I didn’t really know what I was looking for or what to expect out of college at all. I just remember touring a bunch of schools with my mother. We just saw so many schools, but it wasn’t until I came to ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝, and there was just this feeling I got being on campus; everybody felt very warm and welcoming and I really liked that.

What’s a highlight of your time at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝?

Definitely taking Professor [Charles] Nero’s class, “White Redemption.” That just changed my whole plan of life. Before that I was planning to be a biology major, and it wasn’t until I took that class, and it just opened my eyes to a different world. I loved studying films and I loved talking about race, and doing both of those things at the same time was something that I was really passionate about.

Can you describe what it was like to move from an intended major, biology, to another?

It was a hard decision for me. There’s just an expectation that when you’re the first person to go to college, you’re going to come out with something that’s really “impressive.” But I realized that it wasn’t something I was interested in. And also, being a woman of color in that space was really hard, and I knew that no matter what I decided to do in life, it’s going to be hard to be a woman of color, but I might as well be doing something I love to do. 

I’ve always loved film, but didn’t realize that I could follow that interest in an academic setting. And for my dad, who didn’t really go to school and didn’t go to college, watching films together is how we’d bond. He always says, “Oh, you get your smarts from your mother,” but I’m like, “I also got my smarts from you.”

People don’t really look at film as being academic, but it really is so important, like representation and all the things that come with films. And so that’s what I really wanted to pursue. And I just decided it would be worth it in the end. 

How did your major in Africana affect your perspective at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝?

I think that ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ is an institution that really is trying to be more diverse and talk about race and talk about what it means to be anti-racist. And I think that sometimes we just fall short because that’s just what happens. It’s not anyone’s fault, but we’re still trying to get to a point where we’re talking about these things in a way that’s going to produce change. 

Being a woman of color, I wanted to talk about race and I wanted to talk about the experiences that I was having in my life, but in an academic setting. And Africana gave me language to be able to talk about my experiences that I didn’t have before. 

And being in the Africana department gave me a place to talk about these really important topics. In other classes, the mentality is “we need to talk about race because we have to.” When you’re in an Africana course, you’re talking about race because you want to.

Who are you bringing with you to Commencement?

I’m bringing my whole family. It’s a huge deal. I’m the first person to graduate from college, so my whole family’s coming: my mom, my dad, my grandma, my godparents, all five of my siblings, and one of my aunts.

Why did you want to give the senior address?

I’m usually very introverted, but as a first-generation student and as a woman of color, I felt it was important for me to share my experiences. I also want to let other people who are graduating know that yeah, college is hard enough for everyone, but it’s just different for people that are going to a predominantly white institution or people that are going to be the first person in their family to go to college.

And even though my story is very personal, I think there’s a bigger story of growth there that everyone can relate to.

Did either of your two majors influence your decision to submit a speech or what you will say at Commencement?

The professors who are in my departments really help me be the student that I am today. And even if that’s not said in the speech, I would never have had the courage to even submit a speech if it weren’t for my professors — TherĂ­ Pickens, Charles Nero, and Ian Khara Ellasante. They encouraged me to speak up in their classes and to value my own thoughts.

In your speech, you talk about how growth isn’t linear, and life is about taking those opportunities to stretch and grow. What are some of the opportunities, unexpected and otherwise, that you took to grow at ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝?

Taking some risks. I think that switching my major was a huge risk, but I also took smaller risks. For a while I joined 2 B.E.A.T.S. [a hip hop club], and I’d never danced before, but I was a senior; I wanted to try something new. It really introduced me to a great community full of supportive people, and taking risks has helped me build confidence in myself.

The summer after sophomore year, I was really disappointed. I didn’t get an internship, and there was COVID. And then I started questioning myself. But the summer after that, I got two internships and it was like, if I didn’t keep believing in myself, I wouldn’t have applied again. 

You completed an internship with WGBH in Boston with American Experience. What was that like?

I felt like I was a real working woman!

It was a post-production internship, and I was really surprised that I got the internship, because it included reading licenses, and I had never done anything like that.

I helped filmmakers apply to festivals, like the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Fest. They weren’t my films, but it felt like I was applying too, so when we got the notifications that a film would be accepted or denied, I felt that so deeply. And then they asked me to stay on for the fall semester.

The annual ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Film Festival is produced by a course in your rhetoric, film, and screen studies major. How did your internship connect to working on the BFF?

With the internship, I was talking with filmmakers and helping them apply to festivals, and then with the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Film Festival, I was on the other side of that. Being in the selection process and delivering the acceptances — and rejections — was really cool.

You helped lead the Campus Activities and Traditions program on campus. What kind of experiences did you gain from working to plan activities for your peers?

One big goal of Campus Activities and Traditions, especially last year [when pandemic guidelines were in full force], was to make sure that people had things to do and that they weren’t feeling so isolated.

When we put on an activity for people, and saw them gathered in one space, I was so happy and proud of us to be able to look around see all these people out here to paint or whatever. Everyone’s masked and everyone’s socially distanced, but they were meeting new people and we’re hearing real life conversations. 

The Class of 2022 is the only current cohort of ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ students who experienced an uninterrupted, pre-COVID academic year. What’s something that you lost as a result of doing college during a pandemic? 

We lost so much. I don’t even really remember all of what freshman year looked like. I think study abroad was the biggest thing we lost. [Only 9 percent of the class studied abroad, compared to nearly 60 percent for a typical senior class.] I know for me that was a huge thing.

I was like, “Wow, I’m going to Italy.” And then they were like, “No, you’re not.”

I had the program picked out, it was all set, and then the program got canceled. That’s an experience that I would’ve loved to have. I mean, I didn’t even have a passport before and I remember applying for one and I was like, “Wow, I’m going to Italy.” And then they were like, “No, you’re not.” I still want to go abroad, but maybe not Italy. I mostly picked Italy because I like pasta!

How about something that you gained. Was there anything?

I think like when you go through a pandemic, or something like this where the whole world is going through the same thing, you really value close relationships with people.

I remember when I first came to ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝, I hated it, and I thought, “I’m never going to be a person that claps.”

We were lucky enough that ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ brought us back for 2020–21, even though everyone’s like, “Oh my God, that was terrible.” Like, we were eating out of boxes for so long, but it’s that experience that really bonds you to people. I know that there are some people that I’ve met during that year that I’m always going to be friends with. 

Another thing is the traditions. There was like this huge weight on us to keep up the traditions, like when a cup drops in Commons, people clap. Now, we’re clapping as loud as we can so that other people know like, that’s what you do. It’s what you have to do.

I remember when I first came to ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝, I hated it, and I thought, “I’m never going to be a person that claps,” but when I noticed hardly anyone was clapping anymore, I knew I had to join.

At the beginning, it was obnoxious and it was annoying, but we have to keep these smaller traditions alive. And that was something that was really put on our class: to remind the first years and the sophomores that we have traditions here that we need to keep going.

Do you have any advice for incoming students? And/or what advice would you give your younger self?

Just put yourself out there. I wish that I tried 2 B.E.A.T.S. my freshman year, and not just my senior year when I gained the courage to put myself out there more. And not just socially, but academically, too. If I didn’t try to take “White Redemption,” I would not be majoring in what I am now. I would just be suffering in silence as a bio major.

What is your next step post-graduation?

That is the question! Right now I will be going back to a temporary position at GBH where I did my internship last summer, and then I’m not sure.

I think my next step is just to do something unexpected.

I feel like I wanna do something crazy, like a big move. When I was a first-year and I got here and I was meeting seniors, I thought they were so old, like the next step would be starting a family. But like now that I am a senior, I’m like, “I’m so young!” Like I should go to California or something and just live — like who knows?

I’m never going to be this young again. I think my next step is just to do something unexpected.

Want to show your Bobcat pride? Celebrate your graduate with these lawn sign designs. Just download and order through your local copy & print business. Download the printable PDF below to see the complete collection, which includes the following options plus more.

Printable Lawn Sign for 2022 Families

• Download the PDF 12×18
• Download the PDF 18×24

Logos

• Download as JPEG
• Download as PDF

• Download as JPEG
• Download as PDF

Dear Seniors,

I write to provide you with information on two Commencement 2021 topics:

• Ticket Distribution
• Public Health Guidelines and Guest Testing and Vaccination Policy

Ticket Distribution

• On Monday, May 3, seniors who will be participating in the on-site ceremony will receive an email from Dining, Conferences and Campus Events with subject line You’re Invited to ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ 155th Commencement.
• When you open the email, click on Attend Event, and you will be able to register your two guests. 
• The site will be open on May 3 and close on May 14. 
• Once you have completed the ticketing information, your guest(s) will receive a confirmation email with information on accessing ticket(s) as well as the public health guidelines they are expected to follow while visiting ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝.
• If you have any questions, email commencement2021@groups.bates.edu

Public Health Guidelines and Testing and Vaccination Policy

All participants and guests at Commencement 2021 will observe the public-health guidelines and follow the Guest and Returning Senior Testing and Vaccination Policy.

Best,

Christine Schwartz
Assistant Vice President for Dining, Conferences and Campus Events

As Commencement approaches, show — and share — your pride in your ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ senior on your favorite social media platforms.

Facebook Profile Frames

To add a ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ 2021 frame to your Facebook profile picture:

• Visit
• Enter “ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College” in the search bar.
• Choose your new profile frame!
• Select how long your profile frame will stay active and then click, “Use as Profile Picture.” 

#ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝2021 GIPHY Stickers on Instagram & Snapchat

To add ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ 2021 stickers to your Instagram & Snapchat story posts: 

• Start creating your story 
• Tap the sticker option (top on Instagram / right on Snapchat).
• Enter “ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ 2021” or “ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ College” into the sticker search bar.
• Choose your ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ 2021 stickers and load your stories up with Bobcat pride!

Join the Commencement conversation with #ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝Grad and #ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝2021 hashtags

Share your commencement content with the Class of 2021

Use the #ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝2021 and #ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝Grad hashtags to share your Commencement content. Tag @ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝College in your Commencement posts to potentially be featured on our channels (photos must abide by our public health policies for institutional sharing). Or share your message directly through our web form.

You can see these pieces of content natively in their respective platforms on our Well Wishes page, Instagram , Instagram , Twitter , and YouTube .

Want to show your Bobcat pride? Celebrate your graduate with these lawn sign designs. Just download and order through your local copy & print business.

Printable Lawn Sign for 2021 Families

• 12×18 (no bleeds)
• 12×18 (with bleeds)
  
• 18×24 (no bleeds)
• 18×24 (with bleeds)