Graduation Celebration Remarks

Remarks from the video celebrating the accomplishments of Bryn Mawr College's 2020 graduates.

Downloadable/Print-Friendly PDF Versions

2020 Graduation Celebration Remarks

Welcome and Remarks from President Kim Cassidy

Greetings to the Class of 2020, and all who are watching with you, supporting you, and sending their warmest wishes from all over the world!

That wonderful montage you just saw consists of images contributed by the Class of 2020 – and it reminds us that this is indeed a celebration of you: your joy, creativity, and passion for learning; the friendship, camaraderie, and relationships you have nurtured; your dedication to our Bryn Mawr community, and the commitment for a better future that you have brought to the campus.

Today’s celebration is unique in the history of Bryn Mawr. A global pandemic has dictated that we gather remotely today, and that this celebration be just Part One. We’ll celebrate your graduation again, in person, on another day – which I assure you will come, and it’ll be a blowout! Well, a blowout by Bryn Mawr standards anyway.

But make no mistake: today we are still very much together. We’re celebrating the culmination of a journey, a path you have walked in your own way, following your passions, pursuing your unique goals – and at the same time a path you have walked with your classmates and friends, in learning and partnership with your professors, and with the support of your families. We truly are, truly have been, in this together – and I’m so deeply proud of all of you.

You have embodied core Bryn Mawr qualities of academic rigor, passion for learning, and personal resilience, in circumstances that have tested those qualities beyond what anyone ever could have expected. While many of you have shared with me that you don’t like it – and who can blame you? – you are living history. You’re making history too, adapting, achieving, and excelling no matter the circumstances, as Bryn Mawr students do.

I know from countless conversations with faculty, parents, and staff that I am far from alone in my admiration for how you have responded in your academic and personal lives these past two months.

But I can’t say I’m surprised. Your class has been noteworthy for both academic achievement, and for working to
make Bryn Mawr a better place. Through the Black at Bryn Mawr tour, work on key committees and working groups, and other forms of service and advocacy, you have promoted equity and inclusion, calling us to acknowledge Bryn Mawr’s full past and urging us to create a better future.

Through environmentally oriented research and advocacy from the global stage to the campus, you have helped create and institutionalize sustainability practices and policies that will live on for years to come.

You have stood courageously for the rights of undocumented students to learn in safety, and to preserve and build on DACA. You are among the leaders of a generation that has the potential to effect significant change on this fundamental issue central to the nation’s identity and future.

Academically, you have already begun to contribute to the creation of new knowledge through your research and scholarship — a pursuit of academic rigor so desperately needed to solve some of society’s most pressing challenges.

These are only a few of the many ways you have impacted Bryn Mawr and I know you will bring the same qualities to bear on the world as you have brought to bear on our campus. To name just a few:

You challenge received ideas. In these times more than ever, our world depends in large part on the rejection of both blind faith and blind cynicism.
Your careful evaluation of arguments, your ability to sift through information, your dedication to the integration of multiple perspectives in the generation of knowledge, will serve you – and all of us – well.
You have incredible determination.
You have put in long hours and achieved at an extraordinarily high level. Though the classroom became a screen, you stayed the course.
Though the professor might have been wearing sweatpants and maybe even bunny slippers, you maintained your academic rigor.
Though the cat might walk across the keyboard, you hit Undo and kept writing.
Though the house might be noisy and the siblings and parents endlessly creative in ways to interrupt you.
You achieved excellence with a resilience that will enable you to succeed in whatever you decide to pursue.
And you are generous. As you work for your own success, you also work with each other, helping each other. You share
yourselves – your thoughts, your feelings, your experiences, and your vulnerabilities. That takes courage – a kind of courage that can change lives.

These are some of the many reasons we honor you today. And we will see each other again before too long, so we can do full justice to the Commencement of the Class of 2020.

Congratulations! I am so proud of you. I wish you all the best. And I await with great eagerness all that you will accomplish.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Remarks — Doctoral Student Michelle Smiley

Hi, my name is Michelle Smiley and I am a doctoral student in the history of art department at Bryn Mawr College.

I’d like to start by saying thank you to my peers, my advisers, and to the staff of the graduate school of arts and sciences, some of whom I’ve known since my first year at Bryn Mawr as an undergraduate in 2008, and all of whom made the work of finishing a doctoral degree this year possible.

And a special thank you to Dean Burgmayer for the invitation to say a few words today.

Lately, I’ve heard a lot of people joking about how grad students are particularly well-trained for the recent calls for social distancing and self-isolation, and in some respects this is definitely true, and our current self-quarantining might remind some us of long hours spent in the basement of Carpenter Library or in the lab spaces of Park Science. However, I don’t actually think this is the most relevant or topical skill we are leaving with this year.

Instead, the experience that the graduate group at Bryn Mawr has fostered that I’ve been reflecting back on lately is the experience of uncertainty. Because if there is anything that unites the wide range of students and dissertations and disciplines across the school of arts and sciences, it’s probably the experience of not knowing exactly what we are doing. With each thesis, or dissertation topic, lab experiment, or theorem, what the graduate school of Bryn Mawr fosters, I think, is the willingness to approach the unknown, and to approach uncertainty not with a sense of defeat or fear, but with a sense of curiosity and of a deep respect for that which we do not yet know.

This is not to under-sell the huge accomplishment of having completed a degree in a specialized field of study. But I also don’t think the many months, and years, that come before this moment are acknowledged enough; those messy and necessary states of un-knowing and uncertainty that have preceded and underwrite all of our accomplishments today.

If only the world were more like Bryn Mawr College, and were as equally appreciative of such states of un-knowing. So many people in power rush toward certainty, asserting it, willing it into existence; but I think the kind of leadership that Bryn Mawr fosters so well is the kind of leader who is willing not to know, who moves forward with respect, curiosity, and even wonder within the uncertainty, and who chooses to act despite not knowing.

My fellow graduates, I’ve so appreciated the time we have had together in our chosen community of curiosity, and my hope is that we can take it and carry it beyond Bryn Mawr to whatever corner we are going to or are sheltering in right now.

So thank you GSAS class of 2020 and congratulations on your enormous accomplishment.

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research — Octavia Stancil, MSS ‘20

I’ll like to thank my peers, professors, family and friends who have encouraged and supported me through this journey and a special thank you to Dean Shapiro for the opportunity to speak with you today. I am Octavia Stancil an advance standing student at Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and it is my honor to deliver this year’s class of 2020 commencement remarks. Although it is a virtual ceremony, it is not meant to replace or replicate a traditional commencement ceremony. Think of this as an opportunity for our families, friends and Bryn Mawr community to share in celebrating our accomplishment from the safety of their homes.

Whether you’ve been here for four years, part time or you’re an advance standing student like myself, You Did IT! These three little congratulatory words have never had such meaning until today. Especially during these uncertain times as the world is changing and adapting to what has been called our new norm. You did it. You are achieving in a time when achievement is not getting sick. You persevered and your social work qualities shined through as we navigated through a new way of learning.

I don’t believe we we’re born social workers, it’s our life experiences that have led us to this very moment and it’s our experiences that will help us connect and build relationships with the people we’ll serve.

We are the unsung heroes, the ones who don’t look for recognition only results. We thrive in encouraging others. We help individuals see what they don’t see in themselves. We take pride in our communities and we are the advocates to help the world to become an equal place for everyone no matter their economic status, their place of origin, sexual identity, race or gender. We aren’t just social workers, we are professionals who give hope and show compassion for others as we stand on principals of self-determination, acceptance, and integrity.

As you journey on your new path as social workers I would like you to keep a quote by Harriet Tubman in mind "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

Class of 2020 Undergraduate Class President Remarks — Destiny Lamar and Taysha Torres Veloz

Destiny: When we ran for class presidents we used the slogan “Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations” to represent the Class of 2020 and the ways in which we’ve dedicated ourselves to the college and this community. We weren’t expecting this road to be extended and It deeply pains us to be standing here without you all but we know that this is not the end. We are honored to be standing here today on behalf of our class and we thank you for trusting us with your last year.

Taysha: Without a doubt, this is one of the hardest times that we are going through. We wanted to take this time to express how proud we are of you seniors and for everything that you have overcome to get to where you are now, regardless of the circumstances. It is a great honor and privilege to be a part of a class filled with so much power and potential, and no amount of social distancing can dampen our shine. Although you could not be here with us today, know that you are in our hearts and with us in spirit.