At the start of her ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Commencement address, Angela Duckworth asked President Garry W. Jenkins to hold her phone, to avoid potential distractions.

Then, Duckworth asked Jenkins to give her his phone. And then she asked everyone in the audience to hand their phones to their neighbor — again, to avoid distraction.

There was a message to the unusual exercise. A psychologist and author of the bestseller Grit, Duckworth focused on the power of “situation modification”: how we can use “physical distance to create psychological distance,” especially the proximity of our phones to our selves.

It’s what successful people do, she said. “Achieving what you want out of life has to act in one way or another. [S}uccessful people rarely rely on inner fortitude to resist temptations in the heat of the moment.”

Instead, they find ways to avoid temptations or distractions altogether. “Successful strivers…deliberately design their situations in ways that make wise choices easier.”

Here are 12 tips from Duckworth’s talk about how to pursue situation modification to live more mindfully:

1. Use physical distance to create psychological distance

“If you don’t like how your phone grabs your attention, directs your thoughts, triggers your desires, then push it away. On the other hand, if you want something to take up more of your conscious awareness — art, poetry, a really good novel — keep close, as close as possible.”

2. Out of sight, out of mind 

“When you need to focus deeply — put your phone in another room. Out of sight is out of mind.�

3. Change your sky-to-screen ratio 

“Get up and walk out the door. The blue canopy above, even on this cloudy day, while it has no marketing department, no fancy algorithm designed to keep you hooked — but whoa, what an awesome alternative to the glowing blue rectangle in the palm of your hand.�

4. Don’t let your phone ruin dinner 

“When you’re having dinner with people you care about… agree to keep your phones off the table, ideally in a zipped pocket where your habit of reaching for it will be interrupted.â€�

5. Keep it out of reach behind the wheel 

“Each year, distracted driving causes nearly 800,000 accidents, more than 300,000 injuries, and more than 3,000 deaths.�

6. Move your phone out of the bedroom 

“Don’t keep your phone in your bedroom. As , if the last thing you stroke before bed and the first thing you caress in the morning is your phone, you are not moving in the right direction.”

7. Try intentional listening 

“When you decide, deliberately, that you want to listen to something on your phone, look up the Ezra Klein podcast featuring the British author Zadie Smith.”

In the interview, Smith told Klein that the thought of having a phone, and being subject to intrusions and expectations of social media, was intolerable: “I cannot imagine what my mind would be, what my books would be, what my relationships would be, what my relationship with my children would be.â€�

8. Reclaim your attention

“Situation modification isn’t about abstinence. It’s about intentionality. It’s about creating space between stimulus and response, between notification and reaction. And it’s about reclaiming your attention.â€�

9. Be aware of digital junk food

“More and more, people are turning to chatbots for life advice, for companionship, and even for love…. [But] chatbots may be the equivalent of social junk food — providing short-term gratification at the cost of long-term nourishment.â€�

10. Design your life for connection 

“Starting today, maintaining your friendships will require more deliberate effort. You’ll need to schedule time, travel distances, and prioritize showing up for the people who matter to you. All that becomes infinitely harder when your default response to free time is to dive into your phone.

11. You worship what you sit next to 

“One of my closest friends… removed the flatscreen TV from the family living room. [Her] boys complained, but she reminded them of the Hindu proverb her own mother had passed on to her: ‘You worship what you sit next to.'”

12. Remember: how we spend our days… 

“When you make your choices, remember what : ‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.’â€�

At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ 159th Commencement on Sunday, May 25, Commencement speaker Angela Duckworth began her address with one simple request to members of the audience: to take out their phones and hand them to someone next to them.

The 504 members of the Class of 2025, along with their families, faculty, and staff — whether strangers or kin to their neighbors — obliged. 

Onstage, Duckworth traded phones with President Garry W. Jenkins. Free from their digital companions, Commencement attendees turned their attention forward.

With this striking exercise, perhaps unique to the 2025 graduation season, Duckworth began to drive home a compelling, useful, and relevant message: Through “situation modification, we have the power to shape and alter our surroundings in ways that help us thrive.

 â€œThis is what mindfulness looks like in the digital age,” said Duckwork, who is a psychologist, leading voice in the study of human behavior, and author of the New York Times bestseller Grit. “Not willpower, but the wisdom to shape the situations that shape you.â€�

View the 159th ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Commencement. Speaker Angela Duckworth’s address begins at the one-hour mark.

This emphasis on self-determination and its relationship to our surroundings — whether the latter be the location of a cellular device, the campus that the Class of 2025 has grown to call home, or ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ spot in an uncertain world — echoed throughout the Commencement speeches, including Jenkins’ welcoming remarks and the 2025 Senior Address given by Aanika Patel ’25 of Needham, Mass.

On the heels of last week’s atypical May northeaster that covered campus in rain, the 159th Commencement was one of the chilliest in recent memory, with the temperature at 56 degrees but feeling cooler thanks to clouds overhead and a northwest breeze, which prompted a number of audience members to arrive with fleece throws.

Members of the Class of 2025 are from 38 states, the District of Columbia, and 31 countries. Among those students were 126 with double majors and four with triple majors, including five students who received Fulbright grants for the 2025–26 academic year. Sixty percent of the Class of 2025 studied abroad, and more than 40 percent played on varsity sports teams. 

Duckworth received a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, and three other honorands were also recognized: 

• Mary Bonauto, a lawyer and activist for LGBTQ+ rights who successfully argued Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) before the Supreme Court, received a Doctor of Letters degree;
•  Stanley Nelson, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who tells the dynamic stories of Black Americans, received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree; 
• Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts and former U.S. assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, received a Doctor of Laws degree.

In his opening remarks, Jenkins acknowledged the unique and challenging moment that the Class of 2025 faces as they enter the world beyond ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

“You have probably heard more than once that these are uncertain times,� Jenkins said. “Perhaps so much so that you may be a bit tired of hearing it.�

But, Jenkins said, there is good and bad news on this front. On one hand, “there will always be uncertainty,� Jenkins said. “Life is defined by change, by the unexpected, by the yet-unknown and the always-unknowable.�

The Class of 2025 is well-equipped to handle uncertainty, Jenkins said, having ended high school and begun college during a pandemic and gained an education preparing them to handle a changing future.

As they venture onward, the Class of 2025 has much to offer, Jenkins said, and he hopes that they will bring forth the skills they’ve acquired at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ to continue to do good.

“The world needs ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduates — the world needs you — to bring all the tools and talents you have acquired during your time on this campus to bear for lives of leadership and purpose, ameliorating uncertainty, fueling prosperity and innovation, standing up for what is right, caring for those around you,â€� Jenkins said.

The Class of 2025 has much to offer, Jenkins said. They embody grit, creativity, and a commitment to seeking justice and asking the hard questions, values instilled by a liberal arts education.

“It is at places like ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ that we prepare students to think critically, to problem solve, to engage across difference, to connect, both the dots and with each other,â€� Jenkins said. “And then those students become graduates who contribute to their communities around the world in all their vibrancy, diversity, and complexity.â€�

Jenkins charged the Class of 2025 and Commencement attendees with carrying forward a message about the importance of higher education in changing our world for the better, and “the reason it matters to a healthy democracy.�

“Higher education has long fueled American progress — driving innovation, preparing leadership, and enhancing civic life. Of all this, I am certain,â€� Jenkins said. “And, I can tell you — our amazing graduates, as well as friends and visitors — I call on you all to be ambassadors for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and for higher education.â€�

Senior Speaker Aanika Patel ’25, an environmental studies major from Needham, Mass., began her speech by recounting a very-ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ tale. 

Picture this: It was winter in Lewiston, and Patel was preparing for the first outdoor lab in the course “Scientific Approaches to Environmental Issues.â€� Ahead of the lab, her professor, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Holly Ewing, encouraged her students to dress appropriately for the trek up Mount David in the snow. 

That was really no big deal, thought Patel. She showed up wearing a jacket and Blundstones, not a glove in sight, and declined to sport the college-provided snowshoes, despite a foot and a half of snow on the ground.

“About 30 minutes into it, I felt the snow slowly seeping into my socks, and my hands turned a terrible pale shade of white,â€� Patel said. “This class had suddenly become one of those David Attenborough Planet Earth »å´Ç³¦³Ü³¾±ð²Ô³Ù²¹°ù¾±±ð²õ.â€�

Patel learned her lesson: proper preparation frees the mind to revel in the surrounding natural wonders. 

“After learning to dress properly, I began noticing the Maine beauty around me that I continue to be grateful for,â€� Patel said. 

On Mount David, Patel saw a maple tree, which, even in its stateliness, grew while leaving room for a nearby birch tree to also extend its roots. Each species, she noticed, played a role in the delicate dance of nature. She imagined the birch tree falling over, and its fellow trees stepping up to take over its ecological responsibilities.

“Each species finds a new place in space,� Patel said. “In this way, communities form, diverse but intertwined and interdependent through relationships forged over many years.�

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ community is not indifferent from these intertwining natural relationships, Patel said. Since the first week of freshman year, the Class of 2025 has constructed its own “ecosystem,â€� rooted firmly in place and defined by the lessons students have learned from one another and the memories they’ve shared.

“Place is a network of relationships carrying histories, contexts, stories, and identities,� Patel said. “In order for a place to remain, there needs to be this acknowledgement of what has created it and how our identities are framed by it.�

Like Jenkins, Patel acknowledged that the Class of 2025 has dealt with tremendous change, from enrolling in college during a pandemic, to grieving in the aftermath of the October 2023 Lewiston shootings, to processing the 2024 presidential election.

But they didn’t go it alone. The Class of 2025 persisted and thrived thanks to support from many entities on campus.

“It is on this campus we found a community to fight against isolation, to mourn loss and find hope in change, and to fight for the things worth fighting for just by being there and adjusting and relying on each other,� Patel said.

Wherever the members of the Class of 2025 end up next, despite the fear and uncertainty of a path untrodden, they will always have ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Patel said.

“Like the trees standing their ground on Mount David, we will always have these histories we created in our back pockets, and their memory will be a reassurance to stand tall, stay grounded in who you are, and be courageous in this next chapter of our lives.�

In her Commencement address, Angela Duckworth also discussed the importance of staying grounded, specifically by improving our relationship with the devices that now live ubiquitously beside us.

“If being on your phone were a paid job, we would be getting overtime,� Duckworth said.

Cell phone use and placement have a profound effect on personal performance and well-being, Duckworth explained. Research shows that having one’s phone within eyesight while taking an IQ test lowers scores, and high school students who study with their phones farther away from them perform better academically.

Additionally, she pointed out, the popularity of social media over the last two decades coincides with decreasing rates of in-person social interaction, and studies show that halting Facebook and Instagram use for just one month corresponds with increased levels of happiness and decreased levels of depression and anxiety.

Often, the choice to pick up our phones is not a conscious act but rather a habit that we turn to when we’re feeling awkward or anxious; cell phones are “effectively adult pacifiers,� Duckworth said.

The key to dealing with digital distractions, she said, is not about willpower but taking action to remove the distraction.

“Situation modification means using physical distance to create psychological distance,� Duckworth said.

Successful people change their environment to eliminate temptations or distractions instead of expending energy to resist them.

Due to her phenomenally successful book, Duckworth is famously linked to the concept of grit, which “might make it sound as if world-class performers just force themselves to do things. But that’s not accurate. They love what they do. And because they love what they do, they create sanctuaries where they cannot be distracted from their craft.�

Where we keep our phones is among the most important choices we make, Duckworth said. Luckily enough, it is not a choice that we make only once, but rather one that we can recommit to — or change — over and over again.

“I urge you to make a humble yet powerful vow: Commit to situation modification,� Duckworth said.

As such, Duckworth offered six suggestions:

• Put your phone in another room when you need to focus deeply.
• Go outside when you feel awkward, anxious, or bored.
• Keep your phones off of the table during group dinners.
• Keep your phone beyond arm’s reach while driving.
• Don’t keep your phone in your bedroom.
• When you do want to use your phone, listen to The Ezra Klein Show podcast featuring author Zadie Smith, who discusses why she refuses to buy a smartphone.

“Situation modification isn’t about abstinence. It’s about intentionality,â€� Duckworth said. “It’s about creating space between stimulus and response, between notification and reaction. And it’s about reclaiming your attention.â€�

Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, offered the honorary degree citations for Duckworth, Bonauto, Nelson, and Patrick.

Bonauto, a leader in legal efforts to advance marriage equality, has been senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD Law) since 1990.

In 2015, she successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal throughout the country.

“As she said at the beginning of this year, accepting the Presidential Citizen Medal from President Biden, ‘We each have a role to play in fulfilling our country’s promises of equality, dignity, and freedom,’� Hill said, quoting Bonauto.

“In her career, and her contributions to a more equitable society, we see the realization of her own hopes,� Hill said.

Stanley Nelson’s expansive documentary filmmaking has broached subjects including Harriet Tubman, Emmett Till, and historically Black colleges and universities.

“He is a prolific — and prolifically talented, and prolifically honored — documentary filmmaker, focused on telling the stories of Black Americans — lifting up those narratives that haven’t been told, and sharing other narratives, ones that we presume we know, in new and revelatory ways,� Hill said.

Deval Patrick focused on “student achievement, healthcare coverage, entrepreneurial activity, and veterans services� and defended Massachusetts’ law legalizing same-sex marriage, the first of its kind in the country.

“‘Community’ provides not only the through-line of his life and career — it is a value deeply held, frequently cited, and powerfully enacted,� Hill said.

Hill then read the Class of 2025’s names during the conferral of the degrees, the students’ short steps across the Coram stage marking a leap into the next phase of their lives.

After the conferral, Jenkins paused to recognize Hill for his contribution as dean of the faculty; after a sabbatical; he will returns to the classroom as a professor of biology and earth and climate sciences.

Then, Leah Elsmore ’12, president of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Alumni Association, offered parting words about the importance of building connections with fellow alumni and being prepared to support future ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ies.

“Throughout the twists and turns of your professional and personal journey, you can always connect with a Bobcat in the wild,â€� Elsmore said. “And I urge you to pay it forward. Someday when you’ve established yourselves in your chosen fields, be ready to be there for the next generation of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduates.â€�

In a benediction coinciding nicely with the images of nature twisting through Patel’s address, and after Jenkins’ charge to go out and do good, the words of the Rev. Raymond Clothier, interim multifaith chaplain, closed the Commencement ceremony:

“May what you have learned at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ take root and flower in minute and majestic ways to nourish others, nurse the wounded earth and nurture human community.

“May it be so.�

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 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ 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 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ values of leadership, creativity, resilience, and purpose,â€� 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.â€�

The 159th Commencement ceremony begins on Sunday, May 25, at 10 a.m. on the Historic Quad, with a livestream available on the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ 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 peopleâ€� and for “influencing debates about the relationship between the law and momentous social change.â€� 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 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ 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 themselvesâ€� — an apt reminder for anyone who has lived the American Dream.