[Music] [Music] [Music] Please be seated.

Good morning.

Spartans.

Welcome to Michigan State University's Fall 2025 commencement ceremony here at the Breslin Center.

To those joining us by live stream.

Greetings as well.

Today we recognize and celebrate our graduating seniors from the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

The College of Arts and Letters, the College of Education, the James Madison College, the College of Music, the College of Nursing.

Wow.

And the College of Social Science.

All right.

We've got a little competition going.

Great way to start the day.

I love to look out on so many happy faces in this sea of spartan green, and to see the pride in the faces of the family members and guest who are also joining us today.

Thank you for being here.

You can feel the deep affection the Spartans have for this magical place here on the banks of the Red Cedar River.

It's something I know runs through multiple generations in many families attending today's ceremony.

Graduates, today is your day.

We're thrilled to celebrate your accomplishment of earning a Michigan State University degree.

So, colleagues, families, and guests, let's start celebrating our 2025 graduates today with our applause.

I've had the pleasure of meeting many of our graduates in in our dining halls and classrooms at, sporting event and other events around campus, and even climbing the steps of Beaumont Tower, a new graduation traditio that I've enjoyed introducing.

So let me briefly introduce this season's baccalaureate graduates.

They are a diverse group, ranging in age from 20 to 52 and representing 42 countries in 38 states.

About 274 of them are in the Honors College, 2743 have mad the Dean's List at least once, and 76 have represented MSU in intercollegiate athletics.

And graduates, when we've met, I've always come away impressed by your curiosity and determination to make a difference.

Each of you have what it takes to call yourselves Spartans for life.

And so, even as you savor this milestone in your life's journey, you're called once again to seek new horizons.

Now you have powerful assets to carry with you, including a Michigan State University degree, which is an asse that will appreciate over time.

In many ways.

I can't let you all go without passing along three pieces of advice that I think can serve you as you move forward.

Number one, continue to hone the skills you've developed here, including your capacity to advocate for yourself tactfully and methodically, which is something I preach to my own kids.

Build your case for yourself and you will come, and you will come to the attention of people who can take you places.

Next, I hope you remember the methodologies of inquiry you've learned here, and never lose the curiosity that drives you forward.

If you're always, always asking why or why not?

You'll be on the right track to lead a life of purpose and meaning.

And third, for your self-respect as well as your advancement.

Never surrender your integrity.

Soldier and former U.S.

President Dwight Eisenhower said that the supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity.

Without it, no real success is possible.

So, graduates, you depart equippe with multiple lenses to process the inputs of our diverse, interconnected world with the habits of mind to exercise informed critical reasoning.

To be able to make sound decisions.

And as Spartans, you possess the will to rise to the challenges that confron our communities and our world.

I'm confident that in five, ten, or 25 years down the road, you'll look back at your college career and realize how much better prepared you became to meet those challenges and seize the opportunities ahead of you.

So today, each of you can say with growing confidence, I'm built for this.

I can reach my destination and achieve my aspirations.

Today you can say, I got this.

Now, please join students and faculty in singing one stanza of the Star-Spangled banner performed by the MSU Jazz Orchestra One the Bebop Spartans under the direction of University Distinguished Professor Rodney Whitaker.

The singing will be led by Amanda Jane Ross, a master's student in the College of Music.

Upon conclusion of the singing, please remain standing for a moment of silence.

Please rise as you are able.

[Music] You may be seated.

Actually.

And I'd like you to please rise.

I just wanted you to exercise a little bit there.

So as you remain standing I ask provost and executive vice president for academic Affairs, Doctor Laura Lee McIntyre, to please join me at the lectern on this joyful occasion.

Let us briefly acknowledge the fellow Spartans our graduates have los during their academic journeys.

Let us pause here for a moment of silence and remembrance.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

I now invite Provost McIntyre to present this morning' candidate for an honorary degree of.

What a joy this is.

Doctor Lee June please come forward.

President Guskiewicz, I have the honor to present Doctor June for awarding of the honorary degree.

Doctor of education.

Doctor June, you are an inspiring scholar and professor who has devoted your life to the fields of psychology, education, and public service.

You have utilized your expertise to become a leader in spiritual and multicultural psychology.

Your distinguished research has enriched the field and continues to have profound impacts.

During your remarkable 52 year career here at Michigan State University, you have served in a multitude of roles, including director of the Counseling Center, Senior advisor to the Provost for racial, ethnic and Multicultural Issues and Vice president for Student Affairs and Services, and associate provost for racial ethnic and Multicultural issues.

You have been a consistent voice for cross-generational conversations to help young people pursue effective change.

And you have been a mentor and guide for and guide for countless students and higher educational professionals.

In recognition of your work.

You have received numerous prestigious awards, including the Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Living Legend Award, the Frederick Douglass Award, the Michigan State University Black Student Alliance Outstanding Administrator Award, the Michigan State University Distinguished Black Alumni Award, and the All University Excellence in Diversity Lifetime Achievement Award.

For your contributions.

Yet.

For your contributions, both locally and nationally, to continue to inspire, support, and improve the lives of countless individuals.

I am pleased to award yo an Honorary Doctor of Education from Michigan State University.

To president Guskiewicz.

To Provost McIntyre.

Members of the Board of Trustees who are present.

Platform guests and all the symbol.

Thank you, Michigan State University, for honoring me with an honorary degree.

In honoring me, however, I must lift up and honor my late father, Lawson.

June senior.

My late mother, Harriet Smith.

June, as well as my in-laws, Liana Spencer and Benjamin Rufus Spencer, for I stand on their shoulders as intelligent as they were.

None of these individuals completed high school due to the circumstances of the time.

My father achieved the ninth grade education, my mother a sixth grade my mother in law grade school.

My father in law didn't attend school at all, but they were intelligent.

I also honor and lift up my wife, Doctor Shirley June, whose shoulders I lean on and who has been with me throughout my entire 52 years at Michigan State, and also to our twi sons, Brian and Steph in June, as well as my church family.

Above all I thank and give glory and honor to God for sustaining me during these years.

While I deeply appreciate and will cherish the honorary degree.

Today is not about me but you all graduates of 2025.

So congratulation College of Arts and Letters.

Residential College in Arts and Humanities.

College of education James Madison.

Music, nursing and social sciences.

So graduate, I'll ask you.

I'm going to have two request of you.

The first thing I want you to do is to stand.

Graduates, would you stand?

I want you to look around and give a round of applause.

And thanks to your parents, your guardians, your friends and others.

Give them a round of applause.

You may be seated because on their shoulders you stand.

Whether you realize it or not.

What I want to do this morning, during my brief time is to offer a challenge to you.

I've been told the Spartans are known for rising up to challenges.

The challenge is as you take your next steps, whatever they are, and eventually assume the major positions and roles that await you.

And as you assume powerful and influential positions and having received a great Spartan education.

I want you to make justice a lifestyle and in the process, to make God.

Frederick Douglass, Doctor Martin Luther King and your favorite freedom fighters.

Proud of you.

The 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, if there is no struggle, there is no progress.

Thos who profess to favor of freedom and ye press agitation, or individuals who want crops without plowing the fields.

They want rai without thunder and lightning.

They want the ocean without th awful roar of its many waters.

He went on to say, the struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both moral and physical, but it is a struggle nevertheless.

And then the other.

These famous words power concedes nothing without a demand.

It never did, and it never will.

So, graduates, what I wan you to do is to be a generation that changed Frederick Douglass statement to say, Mr.

Douglass it was true in your generation that power conceded nothing without a demand.

But in my generation, when I assume a position of power influence, I will concede something without a demand.

Why?

Because I'm a Spartan.

And what do Spartans do?

Spartans will.

Doctor Martin Luther King came along in the 20th century and said freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, but must be demanded by the oppressed.

So, graduates, I want you t change Doctor King's statement to be when I'm in a position of power influence.

I did not oppress, but I voluntarily granted freedom before I was.

It was demanded because I am a Spartan, and Spartans will.

So I'm challenging you to live a lifestyle of doing justice.

What is justice?

Justice is really just rendering unto a person and that which is due to them according to a certain standard or principles.

It may be, in the religious sense, doing what God intended you to do, but it may be a non-religious sense.

It's just simply living up to the Constitution or whatever your set of principles are.

Two of my same favorite saying about justice was uttered by the ancient prophets Micah and Amos.

Michael said, I would tell you all human what is right and what does the Lord require you to do?

To do three things to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with that God.

Amos came along, I say, but let's just as roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.

I want you to listen careful, because the challenge is to do justice, to often we want justice, and we love justice, but the need is for people to do justice.

Doin justice is active, not passive.

It really is a lifestyle.

Doctor Martin Luthe King powerful and poignant words in the letter from the Birmingham jail, told us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

He said we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

What affects on directly affects all indirectly.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.

You can make a just a lifestyle.

If that's not the case already, I should commit.

So you commit to doing justice as part of your lifestyle.

And the reason I say that because evidence shows that college students and young people is when justice fighters really begin to develop.

And it often has its roots on college campus.

This is clearly pointed out in a book called The Black Campus Movement.

So here are a few just suggestions.

I only have ten minutes and I might be going over, but I'll close as I can.

First, after being clear about what justice is, I ask you to examine the world around you and ask, what are the 2 or 3 thing that are wrong with the world?

In my generation that I can impact?

Then dedicate yourself in your career to working to change them.

In my generation, we tried to do that.

We agreed with Doctor King and we identified the triplets of evil.

We call the racism, militarism, and poverty, and we sought to advocate or to impact them.

Thirdly, set concrete plans to eradicate the injustices you identify.

Fourthly, be persistent in working your plans.

Never give up.

We were told, and I would generation.

And we believe tha that human progress never comes on the wheels of inevitability.

It comes through the tireless efforts of individuals willing to be coworkers with God.

And without this hard work time itself, become an ally for those who want to do evil.

We was also tol that we must creatively use time in the knowledge that the time is always right to do right.

Fifth, be a person of principles.

Have and maintain integrity.

I want you to remember that if you lose your integrity, you really in trouble.

Six undergird your work by meditation or prayer and deep reflection.

And then finally build partnerships.

In my 52 years at Michigan State University, I made a conscious effort t not just accept the status quo.

And as Gandhi said, I tried to be the change.

I wanted to see.

Thus I sought to make things better, and I rendered unto others that which was right, and due to them befor they had to protest to get it.

Parenthetically, in most cases, whatever is protested for if it is a just, is eventually granted anyway.

Malcolm X told us that he believed in anything that was necessary to correct unjust conditions, but he put some conditions on that.

He said, I believe in it as long as it is intelligently directed and designed to get results.

And then John Lewis came alon and told us we can get into some good trouble.

Not bad trouble.

So there are good protests and there are bad ones.

Let me conclude by saying, while I'm retired, I will still be active and watching you.

The graduates of 2025 and your generation from the sidelines.

And if I live to be 100, maybe from my rocking chair, I encourage you to be individuals who can see this something without or demand, and who voluntarily gave freedom before it was demanded because you lived a life of doing justice.

Yes, you can.

You can be the Wilma mankiller, the Nelson Mandela, the Cesar Chavez, the Ron to Cockett, the doctor Martin Luther King, the Frederick Douglass, the Mother Teresa, the Queen Esther, the Harriet Tubman, the Rosa Parks, the Mary Cloud Bethune, or the Fannie Lou Hamer of your day.

As you venture ou now, I want you to remember this statement uttered by Doctor King.

He said cowardice asked the question, is it safe?

Then expediency come along an ask the question, is it politic?

Then vanity asked.

The question is is popula but conscious asks the question.

It is right.

So there will come a time in your career that you're going to have to take a position that is neither safe nor politic, nor popular, but hopefully you will take the position because it is the right.

So be artists, linguists, teachers, professors, lawyers, doctors, psychologists, social workers criminal justice, professional musician, nurses, whatever your profession is and be guided, conscious and do the right thing.

If anyone can do this, it is you.

Why?

Because spot is what will.

I want you to adopt a new mantra as I take my seat.

I wan you this mantra to be go green.

And you say what?

But I want you to add to that.

Say go justice and Spartans will.

We will.

Let's do it again.

Go, green!

Go!

Justice!

Spartans, will!

We will!

I wish you much success.

We are proud of yo already and will continue to be as you live a lifestyle of doing justice in the 21st century.

If you do this, the world will be a better place because of you.

God bless you and to God be the glory.

Doctor June, thank you for those incredible and inspirational words of wisdom and advice you're offering.

The class of 2025.

But there's also one more thing that we're going to do today, and that is that I am pleased to also announce that in the coming weeks, we will unveil and name a portion of the university's Multicultural Center.

The Doctor Lee N. June Student Leadership Commons.

I ca think of no more appropriate way to honor your legac and the impact that you've had on the MSU student body over the past 52 years.

Thank you and congratulations.

The Honorable Kelly Tebay, chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees, will now address the graduates and guests after chair Tebay Provost McIntyre.

We'll continue with the introductions.

Chair Tebay.

Boy, that's a really tough act to follow.

Thank you.

President Guskiewicz, on behalf of the MSU Board of Trustees, I'd like to welcome our graduates and your famil and friends who join us today.

Under the Michigan Constitution, the Board of Trustees is the governing body by whose authority degrees are awarded as we take and we take great, great pride in sharing this exciting milestone with you all.

At this time, I'd like to recognize my colleague who is on the board with me, who is here today.

Rebecca Cook.

Graduates, today's ceremony represents the culminatio of your academic achievements.

The degree that you have earned acknowledges your success, and it honors those who have encouraged and supported you along the way.

Our wish is that we use this knowledge and understandin to improve the quality of life for your community and advance the common good.

Our faculty, administrators, an trustees are all proud of you.

Thank you for allowing us to share this very special time with you.

Congratulations.

Thank you, chairperson T.B.

and good morning, Spartans.

I join you and President Guskiewicz in congratulating our newest degree recipients.

Graduates, each of you possess a unique combination of knowledge and skills you've acquired during your studies here at MSU.

These scholarly achievement culminate today in the conferral of a degree, along with the conferral of our great pride and faith in what you will now accomplish as a resul of your scholarly achievements.

As we send you forth, we are counting on you to become the next generation of thought leaders and innovators of the 21st century.

It's now my pleasure to introduce Madison Pizzuti a can easy ology major in the College of Education.

Madison was chosen by the Senior Class Counci to represent the class of 2025.

Thank you, Provost McIntire.

Good morning, fellow Spartans faculty, family and friends.

Today we stand at the finish line of one journey and at the starting line of countless others.

It is a moment we've imagined for years, sitting in lecture halls with coffee that's lon gone cold, racing through late night study sessions and walking across the red cedar.

Feeling like the world was both impossibly big and right at our fingertips.

When I first came to Michigan State University, I thought success meant achievement.

The grades, the resumé lines, the goals neatly checked off.

But along the way, MSU taught me something much deeper that real success comes from growth.

The kind that challenges you, humbles you, and changes the way you see the world.

For me, that growth came thousands of miles away from Eas Lansing and Ghana, West Africa.

I had the opportunity to conduct research on menstrual hygiene and the barriers schoo girls face just to attend class every morning.

As we walked into schools filled with laughter, resilience and hope, I realized how powerful education truly is.

Not just as a tool for opportuni Every day I spoke with students who faced challenges that most of us never have to think about.

Yet they showed up eager to learn, full of drive and optimism.

Their resilience taught me more about determination and purpose than any textbook ever could.

Those girls taught me wha it means to learn with purpose.

They reminded me that knowledge isn't meant to stay in textbooks or research papers.

It's meant to make a difference.

And that lesson, I think, captures a spirit o what it means to be a Spartan.

That experience changed how I see education not just as a privilege, but as a responsibility.

It reminded me that what we learn here at MSU is meant to reach beyond the classroom.

Knowledge is invaluable because it fills our heads.

It's valuable because of what we choose to do with it.

Here at MSU, we've all been a part of something bigger than ourselves.

Whether through research, service, athletics, or art.

We've learned to ask questions that don't have easy answers.

To challenge assumptions and to keep moving forward even when the path ahead feels uncertain.

We've learned that growth happens when we step outside of what's comfortable.

When we raise our hand in class, even if we are unsure when we board that plane to a new country, or when we take that first step into the unknown.

Looking back, the moments that stand out aren't necessarily the polished ones.

They are the messy, uncertain, formative ones.

The class that challenged everything I thought I knew.

The group project that tested my patience.

The professor who didn' let me settle for good enough.

Those moments built the version of us sitting here today.

I think of professors who saw potential in us before we saw it in ourselves who pushed us to think harder, right, stronger, and care deeper.

I think of classmates who became family, who reminded us that community is built not just in shared success, but in shared struggle.

And now, as we prepare to take the next step, whether into careers, graduate school or adventures we haven't yet imagined.

I hope we carry with us the mindset we built here to be curious, to be compassionate, and to be courageous.

Because being a Spartan isn't just about where we studied.

It's about how we show up in the world.

How we face challenges with grit.

How we use knowledge with empathy.

And how we believ no matter where life takes us.

That we can make a difference.

So as we toss our caps today, let's take a moment to appreciate what this place gave us.

Not just an education, but perspective.

The ability to think critically, to stay curious, and to adap when the path ahead isn't clear.

Wherever we go next, we will carry that with us.

And that, more than any title or job, is what defines the Spartan.

We don't leave MSU behind.

We take it with us in the way we think, in the way we lead, and in the way we care.

We've done the work, we've earned the moment, and we are ready for what's next.

So let's step forward into the world, read to do what Spartans always do.

To impact, to inspire and to keep growing.

Congratulate Asians and go green Bay.

Thank you.

Mattie.

The Senior Class Council has worked tirelessly in support of the Senior Class Gift campaign.

Today's presentation of the senior class gift will be made by Jaylen Smith and Kathryn Harding.

Good morning, class of 2025.

We hope that you are able to celebrate and soak in the joy of the major milestone that you all have just completed.

My name is Kathryn Harding, and I serve as the Associated Students of MSU and Student Body President, and I am the class counsel.

Secretary Jaylen Smith.

On behalf of the senior class council from Asma Sue.

Congratulations on accomplishing this major achievement.

We hope that you push yoursel to continue the drive, passion, and dedication throughout the rest of your life.

And as we prepare to leave Michigan State's campus and start a new chapte of our lives, the Senior Class Council encourages our fellow seniors to make a class gift to the organization that ha a deep, personal meaning to you so that you can make an impac in the lives of future Spartans.

Every year, the Senior Class Council advocates for an organization on campus and encourages our fellow seniors to direct their class gift to that organization.

There are a lot of great efforts to support, and the senior Clas Council hopes that you give to the one that has impacted your time as a student here.

With this in mind we are proud to award this check to President Guskiewic and Michigan State University.

We are thankful for thos who have donated and encouraged those that have not to do so soon.

Our work as advocates of change only continues as we walk across the stage and into the bigger world.

And as we go forward, it is up to every single one of us to stand together and be the change that we want to see in the world.

When we do this, we can ensure a better future for every generation that comes after.

It's up to us to create the environment of empathy, support and validation of others and their lived experience because when no one else will.

Spartans will go green.

Go white.

Step this way.

Take a picture.

Thank you, Jaylen and Kathryn.

I would now like to acknowledge the outstanding faculty and academic staff who are here to celebrate with our graduates.

We're also honored to welcome several of the university's leader who are seated on the platform, but who will not be speaking today.

In their varied roles, they provide support across the academic mission and are deeply invested in fostering academic excellence and student success at Michigan State University.

Colleagues, please remai standing as your name is read.

Members of the audience, please hold your applause until all are introduced.

Bill Beekman, vice president for strategic initiatives.

Stephan Fletcher, secretary and chief of staff for the board of Trustees.

Lisa Friess, senior vice president and chie financial officer and treasurer.

Ashley Greene, assistant provost and chief of staf for the office of the Provost.

James Hintze, vice president for student affairs.

Mark Largent, vice provost an dean of undergraduate education.

And Angela Wilson, associate dean and chairperson of the Faculty Senate.

MSU academic governance and the University.

Mace bearer.

Lastly, I would like to thank our live captioner, Andrea Claver and our teleprompter technician, Doreen Harper Penske.

Thank you.

Today, we pay tribute to graduates who have the distinction of maintaining the highest grade point averages in the class, thereby earning a 4.0 grade point average.

Names of the 4.0 students present at the ceremony are on the screens behind me.

Yeah, well.

To be eligible for a 4.0.

At least three fourths of the credits for the degree must be earned in residence at Michigan State University.

This honor is designated by the green, white, and gold braided cord worn with the academic robe.

This summer semester, 12 students qualified, and this fall semester, 86 students qualified.

All 98 earned a grade point average of 4.0.

Students, please rise and remain standin to accept our congratulations.

Award recipients.

You should be proud of your outstanding academic records that honor you and the university on behalf of your classmates.

The faculty administered nation and the trustees of the university, I congratulate you and wish you the best.

Please be seated.

I now invite my colleague, Glenn Chambers, junior dean of the Honors College and interi dean of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, to acknowledge graduates.

Good morning, everyone.

Students who participat and fulfill the requirements of the Honors College by completing enhanced programs of study are identified as graduatin with Honors College Distinction.

These graduates wear a whit stole with the HC designation, while all students who are graduating as members of the Honors College please rise if you are able and accept our congratulation on behalf of the Honors College.

Thank you.

Student who attain a minimum grade point average of 3.98 are awarded University High Honor.

University honor is awarded to students who earn a minimum grade point average of 3.89.

These honors are designated by the gold cord worn with the academic robe.

All students graduatin with high honor and with honor.

Please stan and accept our congratulations.

I would like to commend those who have worked diligently during the past yea representing the senior class.

We congratulate each of you for your outstanding contributions to the class of 2025.

Members of the Senior Class Council, please stand so we may hono you and show our appreciation.

Students who were selected to represent their college by carrying the college banner in both the processional and the recessional.

Please stand and accept our appreciation and congratulations.

In recognition of Michigan State's ongoing commitment to study abroad, I asked graduates who have had an international experience as a study abroad student outside the United States to please rise and accept our congratulations.

In addition to those students that have traveled abroad, Michigan State is committed to supporting students traveling from other countries to study here at MSU.

I asked graduate who are international students that have traveled her to study at MSU to please rise and accept our congratulations.

All first generation graduates, please stan and accept our congratulations.

We are gratefu that you selected Michigan State University and are proud of your accomplishments.

Okay, there's another group.

Graduates, if you transferred to Michigan State University to complete and earn your baccalaureate degree.

Please rise and accept ou gratitude and congratulations.

In recognition of our students who served in leadership or service roles while here at MSU, I ask all graduates wh participated in an organization such as Tower Guard, ASU, or any other service organization to please stand.

Thank you all.

I'm pretty sure all of you have stood at one point or another in this ceremony.

We'll now confer baccalaureate degrees upon the candidates.

The deans will present their candidates.

Dean Glenn Chambers from the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

Will the most innovative, creative and community minded degree candidates from the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities?

Please rise and remain standing if you're able.

President.

Guskiewicz.

Provost McIntire.

Board of trustees.

Members.

On behalf of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, I am pleased to present these candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements for the conferral of their degrees.

Dean Thomas Stubblefield from the College of Arts and Letters.

Will the extraordinary degree candidates from the College of Arts and Letters please rise and remain standing?

If you are able.

President Guskiewicz, Provost McIntire and members of the Board of Trustees, on behalf of the faculty and academic staff o the College of Arts and Letters.

It's my honor to present these candidate for conferral of their degrees.

They represen our next generation of thinkers, scholars, artists, storytellers, and community minded leaders, and they stand ready to make a meaningful impact.

Dean.

Dr.

Jerlando Jackso from the College of Education.

Will the undergraduate degre candidates from the legendary, internationally celebrated and unquestionably incomparable Michigan Stat University College of Education?

Please rise and remain standing if you are able.

President Guskiewicz, Provost McIntire and members of the Board of Trustees.

They have fulfilled all requirements for their degrees and have done so with distinction, resilience, and unmatched dedication.

I proudly present them to you for the conferral of their degrees.

Dean Cameron Thies from James Madison College.

Will the degree candidates from James Madison College please rise and remain standing if you are able?

There you are.

President Guskiewicz.

Provost McIntyre.

Board of trustees.

Members, on behalf of Jame Madison College, I am pleased to present these globally minde and civically engaged candidates who have fulfilled the requirement for the conferral of their degrees.

Dean James Forger from the College of Music.

Will the candidate from the College of Music please rise and remain standing as you are able?

President Guskiewicz.

Provost McIntire.

Honorable trustees.

On behalf of the faculty and staff, I am delighted to present this candidate from the College of Music who has come.

Who has completed al the requirements for his degree.

And I am certain he will now go out into this world to make it a better place.

Through the power of music.

The very special candidate right there, Dean Leigh Small from the College of Nursing.

Good morning.

Will the bachelor degree candidates from the College of Nursin please rise and remain standing as you are able?

President.

Tusk.

Wits.

Provost McIntyre.

Board of trustees.

Members, on behalf of the College of Nursing, which marks seven five years of Spartan nursing in 2025, I am pleased to present these candidates who have fulfilled the rigorous requirements for the conferral of their degrees and fill the critical need for nurses i our communities, in our nation.

Dean Brent Donnellan the College of Social Science.

Will the outstanding degree candidates from the College of Social Science please rise and remain standing?

If you are able?

President Guskiewicz.

Provost McIntyre.

Board of trustees.

Members.

On behalf of the faculty and staff of the College of Social Science, I am thrilled to present these energetic, energized, and altogether exceptional Spartan social scientists for the conferral.

If they agree, they are ready to make their mark upon the world.

Thank you.

And I'd ask our trustees to please join me at the podium, and I'm going to ask, our, degree candidates who are incredibly awesome.

There are no adjectives left left to describe you, but to please rise.

By authorit of the state of Michigan, vested in the Board of Trustees and delegated to me, I confer upon you the degrees for which you have qualified with all the rights and distinctions to which they entitle you as a symbol of your achievement.

It is tradition to move the tasse from the right side of your cap to the left side, and you may do this at this time.

This act represents a great accomplishment, and at today's ceremony, we honor you.

And one more round of applause before you sit down.

Congratulations.

You may be seated.

The moment you've all been waiting for, we will now present diplomas.

Jody Knol and Scott Pohl will announce the names of graduates as the president presents their diplomas.

I ask that the new graduates be escorted to the platform.

We ask the audience to please be considerate and applauding for your graduates names are read so that each graduate's name may be heard.

Degree recipients.

We ask you to return to your seat following the presentation of your diploma, and to respectfully remain seated for the recognition of your fellow graduates.

From the College of Nursing.

[Conferral of Degrees] [Conferral of Degrees] From the College of Residential.

Excuse me.

From the Residential College of Arts and Humanities.

[Conferral of Degrees] [Conferral of Degrees] From the College of Music.

[Conferral of Degrees] From James Madison College.

[Conferral of Degrees] From the College of Arts and Letters.

[Conferral of Degrees] From the College of Education.

[Conferral of Degrees] From the College of Social Science.

[Conferral of Degrees] Okay, we're almost to the finish line.

I'm going to wait to the last few graduates.

Take their seat.

In the meantime, someone left their tassel up here on the podium near the podium.

If you're missing a tassel, does say class of 2025, s I know it's one of yours, but, we will just come, and finally, we'll return it to you.

Have a few more folks to take their seats.

Okay, graduates, we are very proud of you.

There are many people who celebrate with you.

Many of them here today.

People who have been with you throughout your academic journey, who rooted for you and perhaps helped you cross the finish line.

They might be parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents or friends.

So let's show our appreciation to the family members and friends who have been so important in your journey.

Well, family and friends, please stand as you were able to receive the appreciation of today's graduates.

Please be seated.

All right.

The energy's a lot better now than it was at 9:00 when we started.

I love it.

All right.

There's another group of people who deserve a shout out.

The amazing faculty and staff who supported your success at Michigan State University.

Can we also show our appreciation to these individuals as well?

Thank you.

One of our accomplished alum who addressed last year's fall graduates, Jillian Lauren's, quoted poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, what lies behind us and lies before us are tiny matter compared to what lies within us.

And she asked what if the only thing standing between you and your greatest potential is the courage to live your truth?

She said, if we stay committed, using our Spartan will to make choices that allow our souls to shine full power, we can together illuminate the world.

Now, members of the full graduating class of 2025, please rise as you are able.

You came together to share your fellowship, this incredible campus and all that it had to offer.

You celebrated each other's triumphs and consoled each other in adversity.

And I urge you to remember to advocate for yourself, to stay curious and to maintain your integrity.

And please stay connected to this magical place as you join the ranks of half a million degreed Spartans making the world a better place.

So go forth, Spartan graduates, and illuminate the world.

Go forth and go green.

I now invite everyone to join in singing the first stanz of the alma mater, MSU shadows.

Miss Ross will lead us in the singing.

Following the singing we ask guests to remain seated until the recessional of the platform.

Part faculty and students, thank you.

[Music Alma Mater] [Music Fight Song]