("Pomp and Circumstance") (audience cheering and applauding) ("Pomp and Circumstance" continues) (audience cheering and applauding) ("Pomp and Circumstance" continues) (audience cheering and applauding) ("Pomp and Circumstance" continues) - [Participant] Do we shake hands, or?

("Pomp and Circumstance" continues) - Good morning.

I'm Chris Long, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and of the MSU Honors College.

We gather today to celebrate the graduates from the College of Arts and Letters.

(audience cheering and applauding) Please stand and join students and faculty in singing one stanza of "America the Beautiful," led by Landon Black, a music education junior in the College of Music.

He will be accompanied by the MSU symphony band under the direction of Michael Parker, master's student in wind conducting.

("America the Beautiful") ♪ Oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪ ♪ For amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ For purple mountain majesties ♪ ♪ Above the fruited plains ♪ ♪ America, America ♪ ♪ God shed his grace on thee ♪ ♪ And crown thy good with brotherhood ♪ ♪ From sea to shining sea ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) - Please be seated.

Today, we come together to celebrate our outstanding graduates, along with their families and friends, to honor you and your accomplishments.

Even as we gather today, we are still mourning the violence our community experienced on February 13th.

It may feel uncomfortable to celebrate while those events still consume our thoughts and feelings.

We are dedicated to supporting everyone who was impacted, including the students who were injured, those who witnessed the violence, and the families of those who were injured or passed.

Before we shift to a celebration of your accomplishments, let us pause for a moment of silence, to consider how we can live our lives in a way that honors the spirit of those who are no longer with us.

(no audio) Thank you.

On behalf of the faculty and staff of the College of Arts and Letters, I welcome all graduates, families, and friends to this commencement ceremony of the class of 2023 from the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State.

(audience cheering and applauding) As we begin our ceremony today, I would like to acknowledge the land Michigan State's main campus occupies.

We collectively acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral and traditional and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabe Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwa, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples In particular, the university resides on land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.

We recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan's 12 federally recognized Indian nations, for historic indigenous communities in Michigan, for indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their homelands.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) The ceremony we celebrate today is called commencement because it marks a beginning.

You are embarking upon a new path as you leave this beautiful campus, and chart a meaningful course of your lives.

At such moments of beginning, it is fitting to reflect upon the paths that have brought you to this commencement, for we celebrate here today not simply the courses that you have passed, but the educational experiences that empower you to create a more just and beautiful world.

At the heart of a liberal arts education is the cultivation of intellectual, creative, and ethical habits that will enable you to live a fulfilling life.

At this time, we wish to pay tribute to graduates who not only completed their academic programs successfully, but who have the distinction of having maintained the highest grade point average in the class, a perfect 4.0, thereby meriting the Board of Trustees Award.

To be eligible for this prestigious award, at least three fourths of the credits for the degree must be earned in residence at Michigan State University.

Will the students who are present please stand and remain standing as your names are called?

And I request that you hold your applause until all are introduced.

Jesse Amburgey, studio art.

Samantha Bourgeois, English, College of Arts and Letters, construction management, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Honors College.

Sylvia Hodges, English, Honors College.

Dana Leigh Holt, graphic design, Honors College.

Belle Letcher, philosophy.

Hadley Lloyd, Spanish, College of Arts and Letters, political theory and constitutional democracy, James Madison College, Honors College.

Kara Mackenzie, professional and public writing.

Sophia Psiakis, theatre.

Kate Schleusener, experience architecture.

CJ Sivak, linguistics, College of Arts and Letters, urban and regional planning, College of Social Science, Honors College.

Rachel Renee Vos, theatre.

Each of you should be proud of the outstanding academic record that honors you and your university.

On behalf of your classmates, the faculty, the officers and trustees of the university, I extend sincere congratulations and best wishes.

Please join me in applause for the class of 2023 Board of Trustees Award recipients.

(audience cheering and applauding) And now I would like to present the Louis B. Sudler Prize award winner.

This award goes to graduating seniors who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the areas of the performing and creative arts, including the fine arts, music, creative writing, theatre, electronic photographic arts, and who show promise of future achievement.

I would like to recognize the class of 2023 Louis B. Sudler Prize award winner, SaMya Overall, an English major, yes, SaMya.

(audience cheering and applauding) SaMya is an English major with a concentration in creative writing in the College of Arts and Letters, and she's an Honors College student.

At this time, I would also like to recognize our Citizen Scholars who are graduating with us today.

Established in 2016, the Citizen Scholars program is a prestigious scholarly program designed to prepare students to succeed academically, while gaining experience with high impact learning opportunities such as study abroad, undergraduate research, and internships.

This program sets high standards for high achieving students who expect to be challenged.

Over the years, these students have put their arts and humanities values, knowledge, and skills, and practices into actions in ways that create a more just and open society.

Today, we have 15 students graduating from the Citizen Scholars program, and would these students please stand and be recognized?

(audience cheering and applauding) Also at this time, I would like to recognize our senior class council member.

Class councils at MSU were established in order to directly represent each class on campus to better address their unique concerns.

Today, the senior class council acts as the voice of the senior class at Michigan State University.

I would like to recognize our senior class council representative, graduating with us today, Carl Austin Miller Grondin, a philosophy major, College of Arts and Letters, as well as a social relation and policy major in the James Madison College at MSU.

Carl Austin, will you please stand?

(audience applauding) Thank you.

It is only fitting that we now turn to recognize the winner of our top award for a College of Arts and Letters student, and that is the 2023 Outstanding Senior Achievement Award.

This award is given out annually to a student who embodies four hallmark characteristics of an outstanding graduate: service and leadership, personal and professional development, interdisciplinary scholarship, and a commitment to cross-cultural diversity.

Please join me in congratulating this year's winner of the 2023 Outstanding Senior Award from the Department of English, Julianna Bruno.

(audience cheering and applauding) Congratulations, Julianna.

In recognizing all of these students and award winners, we celebrate the deepest values of the liberal arts education each of you has received.

Your College of Arts and Letters degree at Michigan State University draws upon the power of varied viewpoints and diverse backgrounds.

As a group, nearly 200 of you, sorry, let me say that again.

As a group of nearly 200, 125 of you speak 25 different languages.

Over 100 of you have visited or studied abroad in 30 different countries, and 120 of you have interned in organizations across the world.

These experiences have provided you with the capacity to think critically, imagine creatively, and respond ethically to the most pressing social and cultural challenges we face.

Your education in the College of Arts and Letters has empowered you to be conscientious and engaged citizen leaders who can work collaboratively with local, national, and global organizations.

Your degrees have been enhanced by the study and practice of written and artistic expression from diverse traditions and interdisciplinary courses.

So you are prepared to live in multiple worlds, and you are capable of imagining how to enrich lives and relationships in a wide variety of different contexts.

For generations, alumni from the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University have transformed lives through engaged leadership, and I know you will each do the same.

But you must put the values that have shaped your education into practice.

Only through intentional practice will your passion, your leadership, and your talent mobilize the power of an MSU liberal arts degree to bring more justice and beauty into a world so badly in need of both.

On behalf of the faculty and the staff of the College of Arts and Letters, I wish you the best as you pursue your personal goals with your families and your communities.

But we hope too, that as you embark upon this new... Those of you from New Jersey, there's a few people from New Jersey.

We hope that you, too, as you embark upon this new journey, will remember how your experience here on the banks of the Red Cedar has shaped the person that you've become, and that you will return often to mentor and support the next generation of students in the same spirit in which those who came before you provided support and encouragement that you needed to arrive at this exciting moment of commencement.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) I now ask Stephen Di Benedetto, Chairperson of the Department of Theatre, to introduce our guest speaker.

- Congratulations, graduates.

I'm pleased to be here today to introduce you to our student commencement speaker, Sophia Psiakis.

Sophia is graduating from the College of Arts and Letters with a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting for stage, screen, and new media, and a minor in musical theatre.

Sophia has been heavily involved in the theatre throughout the past four years.

They are a student representative for the Department of Theatre's undergraduate affairs committee, a group she called back up again after COVID.

Sophia also assisted theatre professor Dionne O'Dell with an undergraduate research initiative focused around accessibility in theatre.

She is a proud volunteer with the Open Spot, a theatre company partnered with MSU, that focuses on teaching singing, acting, and dancing to students who are neurodiverse.

They have been a student volunteer during their Spartan journey, spending their Wednesday evenings helping students express themselves through theatre.

Sophia is also an active member of the Sensibility Ensemble, a group at MSU also led by theatre professor Dionne O'Dell, that focuses on devising new touring musicals for neurodiverse classrooms.

She was a part of the last show, Soda Pop Shop, as the part Sister, and is now a large cat puppet named Wilhelmina in the touring production of "What If Wilhelmina," which has been an incredible experience.

In total, Sophia has been a part of 12 productions at MSU, including both student-run shows and shows with the department.

She's also been cast in a few film projects, including a short film about purity culture titled "True Love Waits," directed by Erin Doyle Cooper, and produced by MSU theatre professor Ryan Welsh, that premiered at a sold-out screening this past April at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival.

While they are primarily an actor, Sophia has also had the opportunity to direct this past year, assistant directing the main stage show "Charlotte's Web," with theatre professor Dr. Ann Folino White, and directing the show "Solace," written by student Caila Coleman, and produced by Second Stage Productions, a student-run organization within the department.

In addition, Sophia is an educator, and has spent the summer of 2021 at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, as a cabin counselor slash theatre assistant, and the summer of 2022 as the Teaching Artist Intern at the Seattle Children's Theatre.

Just recently, Sophia was awarded the prestigious Board of Trustees theatre scholarship, I'm sorry, Board of Trustees scholarship, due to her 4.0 standing throughout her college years.

Following graduation, she hopes to continue acting and spreading love through the educational theatre.

She's planning on moving to New York, and is currently finalizing her contract with a children's theatre there.

I invite all of you to join me in welcoming to the podium the MSU College of Arts and Letters 2023 undergraduate student commencement speaker, Sophia Psiakis.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Hello, and thank you.

Welcome, grads, friends, and family.

As mentioned, my name is Sophia, and I am a theatre major.

We are the small group over there that's really loud, so if anybody's sitting near them, you have been warned, yeah.

I just wanna start by saying to every single person here, I'm so proud of you.

If you're here with us today, it's because you either spent these past few years working hard to get your degree, or because you had an impact on one of the Spartans sitting down in their cap and gown.

Whether you have your entire extended family here, or you're just solo, know that there are people who are so proud of what you've accomplished while you were here, and have complete faith that you will accomplish even more once you get that diploma.

I'm proud of you, my cat, Katara Gooby Psiakis, is proud of you, that rowdy group of theatre kids is very proud of you, and I know that every single person in this room, whether you know them personally or not, is in awe of all you've done over these years.

I know that no one really wants me to talk about it, but I have to.

We've been through a lot.

We had that absolutely horrible illness in 2020.

We all know what I'm talking about.

The stomach flu outbreak in January.

Ah, that was terrifying.

You know, January 12th, sitting in Sny-Phi, hearing about the first of my friends to catch it, it was Mark, there were multiple emails about how many Spartans were falling ill with the stomach flu.

I locked myself in my dorm, eating only crackers and Ramen.

It was scary.

I don't know how we managed to make it through, but here we are.

I honestly didn't think that that awful flu would be topped by another illness that year, but a few months later, we had to go through more wackiness.

Our class was the class that got to experience at least one single normal semester before a pandemic had us suddenly switching to Zoom classes.

It was a really scary time.

I remember being in my Intro to Children's Theatre class, and having my professor, Dionne O'Dell, tell us that after the class, we had to go home.

Not home, but home.

It was hard.

I had to take theatre classes online.

Imagine doing a movement routine as the element earth in your bedroom.

We had to turn our cameras off so there wouldn't be any distractions as the others performed their monologues, and I did ballet in my basement.

All jokes aside, it was weird seeing this beautiful campus completely deserted within two days.

It really is very gorgeous in the spring, and we all had to miss that.

We had to miss a lot.

Classrooms were abandoned, costumes sat in the washer of the auditorium, the bleachers in Spartan Stadium were empty, or so I was told.

I've been locked away in the auditorium for four years, and this is my first time seeing the sun.

For the record, that was a joke, for the most part.

Things finally started to get a bit more normal.

We finally started feeling a bit more normal.

Then on February 13th of this year, that normalness was stripped away.

I don't need to provide any more details.

We all know what took place.

And I know we already took one, but let's take another moment for Arielle, Alexandria, Brian, and those injured.

(no audio) Thank you.

After that, I was scared to come back onto campus.

I didn't know what to do.

That's when I realized that everyone else felt the exact same way.

People like to talk about "Midwest nice," and how strong the MSU community is, but this was a moment where those two things were so extremely prevalent.

I felt supported in a way that I hadn't felt before.

Sitting in dance class, which normally terrifies me, suddenly felt so comfortable as we talked about our pain and the different ways that we all grieve.

We couldn't feel alone, because no one would let that happen.

This place is incredible.

And speaking of incredible, our professors at MSU are pretty fantastic.

I came to Michigan State because the professors made me feel welcome.

When I came here and auditioned, the professors actually laughed at my funny monologue.

It's hard to explain just how unnatural that is in the theatre world.

They oohed and aahed at my singing, and they showed genuine expressions on their face that said that they liked me.

It was crazy.

Throughout the years, they spent time with me to figure out who I am as a person, and how I can better myself and my acting.

It's not only the theatre professors either.

Every single professor I have had at this university has been so passionate about what they teach, and in each classroom, you can feel the love that they have for teaching.

They have shared those passions with us.

They pushed us to be our best, while treating us with empathy, and acknowledging that we are individuals.

It's incredible how much faith and trust I have in my professors.

I feel confident that I can handle anything thrown at me because they have prepared me for it.

To all of our professors, thank you for caring so much, and making this educational experience so wonderful.

The next part, I'm not done.

(audience applauding) Oh, we're applauding for the professors, yay.

Okay, the next part of our lives is scary.

We have to be adults, and make adult money.

I'm terrified, but part of me knows that it's okay.

I'm a Spartan, we are Spartans.

We're resilient, compassionate, and have one of the strongest communities in the world.

We can talk about our feelings in dance class, and switch gears and succeed in online classes, and we can rely on every other person in this room, on this campus, and everyone else who calls themselves a Spartan.

As the greatest writer of all time, Taylor Swift, who I actually saw in concert on Friday, no big deal or anything, as Taylor Swift has said, "So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.

You've got no reason to be afraid.

You're on your own, kid, yeah, you can face this."

We may be on our own right now, expected to face the world all by ourselves, but MSU has given us skills and a community that we can rely on for the rest of our lives.

We are strong, we are passionate, we are Spartans.

And now I'm done, thank you.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Thank you, Sophia, that was awesome.

At this time, chairpersons and directors from the College will introduce the candidates for their baccalaureate degrees in the College of Arts and Letters.

As the graduates come forward, they will be in alphabetical order by the department or degree program.

Graduates, please return to the seats after your name is called, the token diploma is presented, and photos are taken.

Jody Knoll and Scott Pole will read the names of the graduates as they receive their diplomas.

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for the College of Arts and Letters, Cara Cilano, will introduce the chairpersons, who will then introduce their degree candidates.

- Thank you, Dean Long.

Congratulations, graduates, and good morning, families, friends, and supporters.

Now is the time for all of us to test our vocal abilities, because we're about to celebrate, scream, and yell for our graduates, so on the count of three, everybody give me your best "woo-hoo," okay?

One, two, three.

(audience cheering and applauding) There we go, okay.

I am happy to welcome Professor Tani Hartman, Chair, Department of Art, Art History, and Design.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Thank you.

Will the visionary, imaginative, creative artists, designers, scholars of art who will lead us into a better tomorrow please come forward to receive your degrees?

- [Announcer] The graduates from art, art history, and design.

Jacob Springer.

(audience cheering and applauding) Diamante Alexander.

(audience cheering and applauding) Dylan Baisden.

(audience cheering and applauding) Eric Uryga.

(audience cheering and applauding) Olivia Marie Morea.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jesse Amburgey.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jade Jaarda.

(audience cheering and applauding) Ana Chavez.

(audience cheering and applauding) Liz Vodella.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nicole Landerschier.

(audience cheering and applauding) Shane Rider.

(audience cheering and applauding) Madison Imperio.

(audience cheering and applauding) Rassoull James II.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mia Tran.

(audience cheering and applauding) Raegen Eller.

(audience cheering and applauding) Molly Anderson.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kailey Marie Reed.

(audience cheering and applauding) Peyton Christopher Capp.

(audience cheering and applauding) Courtney Robinson.

- [Audience Member] Yeah, Courtney.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Grace Fish.

(audience cheering and applauding) Marissa Rubaiai.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jessica Smith.

(audience cheering and applauding) Maddie Dibley.

(audience cheering and applauding) Delaney Higgins.

(audience cheering and applauding) Maureen Miller.

(audience cheering and applauding) Allison Miller.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sarah McLean.

(audience cheering and applauding) Katie White.

(audience cheering and applauding) Megan Wachtel.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nicole Grganto.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lauren Merritt.

(audience cheering and applauding) Emma Rose Sietsema.

(audience cheering and applauding) Dana Leigh Holt.

(audience cheering and applauding) Olivia Yaroch.

(audience cheering and applauding) Riley Puscas.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nashira Anisa Ransome.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lauren Freeland.

(audience cheering and applauding) Darius Snow.

(audience cheering and applauding) Darnielle Ramon Hogans, Junior.

(audience cheering and applauding) Libby Wagner.

(audience cheering and applauding) Anna Webber.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jenna Tesner.

(audience cheering and applauding) Eseraa Ali.

(audience cheering and applauding) Shuying Fang.

(audience cheering and applauding) Olivia Cuevas.

(audience cheering and applauding) Olivia Grace Fossum.

(audience cheering and applauding) Ryan Quilinan.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sierra Paluszak.

(audience cheering and applauding) Zoey Bjorkman.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kelly Edgecomb.

(audience cheering and applauding) Reese Simone Tatum.

(audience cheering and applauding) Madison Dell.

(audience cheering and applauding) Samantha Elise Huyler.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jack Waldron.

(audience cheering and applauding) Patrick Balcerowski.

(audience cheering and applauding) Miguel Olguin.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Students] (indistinct) in the house.

- [Announcer] Now the graduates in English and film studies.

- [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Justus Nieland, chair, Department of English.

- Thank you.

Will the bold, brilliant, joyful, compassionate, and truly inspiring candidates for English and film studies please come forward?

- [Announcer] Katherine Marie Franklin.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mackenzie Lenk.

(audience cheering and applauding) Marshall Smith.

(audience cheering and applauding) Magdalene Josephine Hill.

(audience cheering and applauding) Shannon Price.

(audience cheering and applauding) SaMya Overall.

(audience cheering and applauding) Annabelle Italia.

(audience cheering and applauding) Anat Pizetski.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lily Ashburn.

(audience cheering and applauding) Paula Duva-Rodriguez.

(audience cheering and applauding) Anayeli Anguiano.

(audience cheering and applauding) Alexus Whitney Parsell.

(audience cheering and applauding) Caila Coleman.

(audience cheering and applauding) Abigael Theut.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sophia Bartlett.

(audience cheering and applauding) Margaret Dietz.

(audience cheering and applauding) Joanna McQuown.

(audience cheering and applauding) Danielle Klott.

(audience cheering and applauding) Katy Burkhardt.

(audience cheering and applauding) Rachel Justine Beether.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kate Vanee.

(audience cheering and applauding) Ryan Chaben.

(audience cheering and applauding) Oliviah Brown.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sylvia Hodges.

(audience cheering and applauding) Maureen Meadow.

(audience cheering and applauding) Colina Davies.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sara Peeper.

(audience cheering and applauding) Peyton Rainwater.

(audience cheering and applauding) Serina Isobell Berisha.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lucia Brosco.

(audience cheering and applauding) Tracy Cabej.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lindsey McNulty.

(audience cheering and applauding) Andrew Ferguson.

(audience cheering and applauding) Rebecca Hallman.

(audience cheering and applauding) Logan Gillespie.

(audience cheering and applauding) Eduardo Diaz.

(audience cheering and applauding) Esme Rebecca Bailey.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sydney Spickard.

(audience cheering and applauding) Julianna Bruno.

(audience cheering and applauding) Megan Kelly.

(audience cheering and applauding) Brendan Burg.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jacob Yancho.

(audience cheering and applauding) Braxton Hay.

(audience cheering and applauding) Tiana Rose Schneider.

(audience cheering and applauding) Elyssa Daguanno.

(audience cheering and applauding) Savannah Harris.

(audience cheering and applauding) Allison Simpson.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sydney McCastle.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mary Cunningham.

(audience cheering and applauding) Diane Osterhout.

(audience cheering and applauding) Madelyn Davis.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nithya Balakrishnan.

(audience cheering and applauding) Margaret Lupton.

(audience cheering and applauding) Madeline Strong.

(audience cheering and applauding) Joshua Kish.

(audience cheering and applauding) Trevor Mendola.

(audience cheering and applauding) Charles Reno Meyers.

(audience cheering and applauding) Brien Smith.

(audience cheering and applauding) Clark Joslin.

(audience cheering and applauding) Matthew Beasley.

(audience cheering and applauding) Bryce Harder.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Casey McArdle, director of the Experience Architecture program.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Will the amazing, brilliant, awesome, future user experience researchers, user experience designers, content strategists, technical communicators, future leaders, and future change agents of this world, the graduates of the Experience Architecture program, come on down, let's do this.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Hannah O'Malley.

(audience cheering and applauding) Louise Depa.

(audience cheering and applauding) Aja Stokes.

(audience cheering and applauding) Samantha Abele.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nicholas Freiburger.

(audience cheering and applauding) John Thanh Chong Nguyen.

(audience cheering and applauding) Avigna Tatineni.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mary Margaret Vanderwall.

(audience cheering and applauding) Ann Marie Smith.

(audience cheering and applauding) Aiden Tompkinson.

(audience cheering and applauding) Grace Bottrell.

(audience cheering and applauding) Caitlin Rose Mobley.

(audience cheering and applauding) Paige McPhail.

(audience cheering and applauding) Craig Smith.

(audience cheering and applauding) Hillary Hemry.

(audience cheering and applauding) Rose Vulai.

(audience cheering and applauding) Max Nicholson.

(audience cheering and applauding) Demetrios Angelo Zervos.

(audience cheering and applauding) Emma Claire Riddering.

(audience cheering and applauding) Adria Mestre.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kate Schleusener.

(audience cheering and applauding) Hayden Hollamon.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Ellen Moll, Director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities and Humanities Pre-Law programs, and the Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Will the boundlessly brilliant, inimitably innovative, and astoundingly accomplished candidates for humanities pre-law and interdisciplinary humanities please come forward?

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Grace Ingabire.

(audience cheering and applauding) Erin Donovan.

(audience cheering and applauding) Erica Worthing.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sydney Bertinetti.

(audience cheering and applauding) Braxton Caulffs.

(audience cheering and applauding) Emma DeBeaussaert.

(audience cheering and applauding) Anna Heim.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sydney Warner.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lydia Eileen Kahler.

(audience cheering and applauding) Izzy Randel.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kennedy Parker.

(audience cheering and applauding) Marissa Ogea.

(audience cheering and applauding) Brooklyn Edwards.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kara Elizabeth Sollars.

(audience cheering and applauding) Valeria Zapata.

(audience cheering and applauding) Elyse Baden.

(audience cheering and applauding) Shelby Walmsley.

(audience cheering and applauding) Aidan Shepherd.

(audience cheering and applauding) Taylor Jill Von Kegler.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Yen-Hwei Lin, Chair, Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Will the globally engaged and scientifically sophisticated candidates for Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures please come forward?

- [Announcer] Lucas Pitser.

(audience cheering and applauding) Walker Trossen.

(audience cheering and applauding) John Skendzel.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nicholas Beatty.

(audience cheering and applauding) Bryson Payne.

(audience cheering and applauding) Liam Timmerman.

(audience cheering and applauding) Whitney Marie Kuta.

(audience cheering and applauding) CJ Sivak.

(audience cheering and applauding) EJ Kelbley.

(audience cheering and applauding) Keith Andrew Taylor.

(audience cheering and applauding) Cassidy Johnston.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mitchell Earnst.

(audience cheering and applauding) Danielle Francis Goldberg.

(audience cheering and applauding) Ivy Ly.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sydney Jasmine Sharafi.

(audience cheering and applauding) Alexis Williams.

(audience cheering and applauding) Callista Lupa.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kayleigh Manchester.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Matthew McKeon, Chair, Department of Philosophy.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Will the outstanding candidate for philosophy please come forward?

- [Announcer] Carl Austin Miller Grondin.

(audience cheering and applauding) (person laughing) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Amy Derogatis, Chair, Department of Religious Studies.

(audience applauding) - Please join me in congratulating our excellent and bold graduate.

Please step forward for degree in religious studies.

(audience applauding) - [Announcer] Rana Omar.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Anthony Grubbs, Chair, Department of Romance and Classical Studies.

- Good morning.

(speaking foreign language) And could the multicultural and polyglot graduates of the Department of Romance and Classical Studies please come forward?

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Shae Thompson.

(audience cheering and applauding) Tyler James Lee.

(audience cheering and applauding) Payton Marie Miller.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nicholas Sonck.

(audience cheering and applauding) Erika Christensen.

(audience cheering and applauding) Catherine Foster.

(audience cheering and applauding) Amanda Dion.

(audience cheering and applauding) Tricia Marie Carreon.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mary Carthew.

(audience cheering and applauding) Amy Keyorkgy.

(audience cheering and applauding) Hannah Wassif.

(audience cheering and applauding) Hannah MacDonald.

(audience cheering and applauding) Brody Black.

(audience cheering and applauding) Declan Doyle.

(audience cheering and applauding) Gregory Guzman.

(audience cheering and applauding) EJ Kelbley.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Stephen Di Benedetto, Chair, Department of Theatre.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Will the candidates follow the god Dionysus.

Please, thunder, and you know who you are, Department of Theatre, please come forward.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Neil Monty Alexander.

(audience cheering and applauding) Madison LeMieux.

(audience cheering and applauding) Nakayla Sunna Morgan.

(audience cheering and applauding) Taelor Burrell.

(audience cheering and applauding) Cameron Surat.

(audience cheering and applauding) Maya Joyce.

(audience cheering and applauding) Joshua Vann Sowers.

(audience cheering and applauding) Josh Denver.

(audience cheering and applauding) Lane Madison Straub.

(audience cheering and applauding) Rachel Renee Vos.

(audience cheering and applauding) Timothy Hackbarth.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jennifer Lynn Low.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jade Jaarda.

(audience cheering and applauding) Andrew Seng.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kelley Whitehouse.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sophia Psiakis.

(audience cheering and applauding) Vi Rose.

(audience cheering and applauding) Jordan House.

(audience cheering and applauding) Mark Zum Mallen.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Aminda Smith, from the Center for Gender in Global Context.

(audience applauding) - Will the passionate, community engaged, and truly revolutionary thinkers in Women's and Gender Studies please come forward?

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Raina Cochran.

(audience cheering and applauding) Michelle Garibaldi.

(audience cheering and applauding) Ava Trevino.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kara Mackenzie.

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Cara Cilano] Please welcome Professor Danielle Nicole Devoss, Chair, Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Will the expansively eloquent, boundlessly brilliant, and exceptionally excellent candidates for the degree in Professional and Public Writing please come forward?

(audience cheering and applauding) - [Announcer] Charlotte Bachelor.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kristen Cotner.

(audience cheering and applauding) Liz McCadden.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kira Robinette Ginter.

(audience cheering and applauding) Sovann Patricia Hyde.

(audience cheering and applauding) Annaka Hansen.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kyleigh Myers-VanDouser.

(audience cheering and applauding) Kyla Chamberlain.

(audience cheering and applauding) And Logan Bry.

(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) - Will the candidates please stand?

(audience cheering and applauding) On behalf of Michigan State University, and interim president Teresa K. Woodruff, who has been delegated the authority of the state of Michigan, vested in the Board of Trustees, I confer upon all of you the degrees for which you have been recommended, with all the rights and distinction to which they entitle you.

According to custom, you may now move your tassels from the right side of your caps to the left.

Congratulations.

(audience cheering and applauding) This act... One more.

(audience cheering and applauding) All right, we got one more graduate.

(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) That was Ashley Ogu, from Humanities Pre-Law.

Congratulations, Ashley.

(audience cheering and applauding) All right.

We wanna celebrate every single person.

This act represents a great achievement, and marks the beginning of a lifetime of dedicated service to the world.

This morning, we celebrate and recognize nearly 200 of you who have completed an academic program in the College of Arts and Letters.

Please be seated.

Now I would like to thank the staff of the College of Arts and Letters, various units across campus, including those here at the Breslin Center.

A lot of planning and coordination goes into an event like this, and their work is so very much appreciated.

Let's give them a round of applause.

(audience cheering and applauding) Michigan State, as you know, has a world-class faculty.

In the College of Arts and Letters, we are especially proud of the international reputations our faculty have, as artist and scholars, and their dedication as teachers.

In the future, almost every one of you graduating here will pause for a moment in what will surely be busy and productive lives, to reflect on those teachers who took a special interest in you, who made you think a little differently, or introduced you to an idea that shifted your views of things, or altered the course of your life.

I ask that the representatives of the faculty rise so that we may express to them our gratitude for the exceptional contributions they and their colleagues have made to the College and to the individuals in this graduating class, please rise.

(audience cheering and applauding) Thank you, you may be seated.

We are also grateful to pay tribute to other individuals who have contributed their love, their understanding, their support, and their resources to help make this celebration possible.

I refer, of course, to the good friends and the family members of the graduates: the parents and grandparents, partners, spouses, children, siblings, and cousins.

Will you all please stand so we can express our appreciation and thanks?

(audience cheering and applauding) And now, it is my great pleasure to introduce our alumni speaker, Tori Nichel Gibbs.

Tori Nichel is a native Michigander turned New Yorker who grew up in the metropolitan Detroit area, graduated from Michigan State in 1998 with a degree in Apparel and Textile Design.

She is a multi-hyphenated design leader and creative director designing for national brands and celebrities, such as Kenneth Cole, Tibi, Jennifer Lopez, and Kohl's, just to name a few.

She, that's right.

(audience laughing) She garnered national press from Vogue, WWD, Washington Post, for being a catalyst for change in the fashion industry when she launched her retail business, Maison Black, in 2021.

Yeah, that's right.

(audience cheering and applauding) Over the course of her successful 25 years in fashion, Elle and Forbes have deemed her a designer to watch.

Maison Black is an online e-tailer that creates immersive shopping experiences through curated pop-ups, all the while being a destination for discovery for Black designers.

Her unwavering commitment to paying it forward to the next generation of Black design talent is seen through her advocating for equitable opportunities in career advancement, business funding, as well as creating mentorship programs throughout her Maison Black Foundation, and being a mentor with Virgil Abloh's Postmodern Scholars.

Let's please give a warm Spartan welcome back to campus for Tori Nichel Gibbs.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Thank you, Dean Long.

I'd also like to thank Tani Hartman, Department Chair of Art, Art History, and Design, and Christine Radtke, Senior Director of Development of the College of Arts and Letters.

Spartans!

You are one speech away from becoming Michigan State grads.

Come on, Spartans, I need to hear you.

(audience cheering and applauding) I am so thrilled and honored to be back at State to speak with you all today.

Congratulations to the families and the parents.

Congratulations to the faculty.

And a huge congratulations to this distinguished group of Michigan State Spartans.

(audience cheering and applauding) Now, some of y'all are wondering, "Who is this speaker, and how fast is she gonna get off the stage so I can get on my way?"

Well, my friends, I am Tori Nichel, fashion designer, entrepreneur, creative imagineer, founder and chief executive officer of Maison Black, but most importantly, I'm a proud graduate of Michigan State University's College of Arts and Letters.

(audience cheering and applauding) Driving up 96 headed here took me back to the day my mother drove me to Akers Hall.

Yeah, Akers.

She wouldn't let anyone ride with us, just her and I.

As we settled into the car ride, she began a very serious conversation.

She shared with me, never let anyone or any situation get between me and my education, that it was my time to chart my own path and realize my dreams, and that my education would be the key to unlock those dreams.

She added to always give selflessly, even if I was loaning money, to give from the heart without the expectation of receiving anything in return.

She urged me to be independent and confident in all that I do, to be courageous, even if I was afraid.

Unbeknownst to me, that day, my mother was passing down principles that would refine my character, and today, I am here to pass those principles to you.

The late great Maya Angelou once said, "You can't wear a catcher's mitt in both hands.

You have to be able to pass something back."

That, to me, is legacy.

My belief in what the legacy of character is is giving back, strengthening community, inspiring to transform lives, cultivating relationships, and making a way for someone else.

There will be times when you will be faced with situations that may challenge you to compromise your character in your career or everyday life, yet your principles, your core beliefs you instill within yourself, paired with the understanding of the legacy of character, will anchor you always.

So I ask you, what is your character legacy?

How do you wanna show up, and how do you wanna be remembered?

The world, now more than ever, is ready and in need of your guidance, your leadership, and your authenticity.

As you leave here today, I want you to think about this.

Are you willing to give your legacy of character to the world?

Maya Angelou also said, "Your legacy is every life you touch."

And I believe we are a reflection of what we desire our communities and our world to be.

Congratulations, graduates.

(audience cheering and applauding) Thank you.

- Thank you, Tori Nichel.

We shall conclude this ceremony by standing to sing the first stanza of the alma mater, "MSU Shadows."

♪ MSU, we love thy shadows ♪ ♪ When twilight silence falls ♪ ♪ Flushing deep and softly paling ♪ ♪ O'er ivy covered halls ♪ ♪ Beneath the pines we'll gather ♪ ♪ To give our faith so true ♪ ♪ Sing our love for alma mater ♪ ♪ And thy praises, MSU ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) - We ask our guests to remain in place until the platform party and faculty have recessed.

Thank you, and congratulations.

(audience cheering and applauding) (upbeat music)