(Music Playing) Well, we had great music until we boring types in the front row came walking in, I think.

but how's everyone doing today?

A beautiful day and a beautiful celebration.

So good afternoon.

My name is Jim Forger, and it is indeed my honor to serve as dean of the Michigan State University College of Music.

On behalf of our world class faculty and staff, I welcome you to the College of Music spring 2025 Commencement Ceremony in attendance.

Our distinguished guests and speakers, family and friends, and of course, our graduates.

Let's all start out by congratulating this remarkable class for their tenacity, their flexibility and talent, their intellectual and musical curiosity, and the many significant achievement that they have realized during these unprecedented time leading up to their graduation.

Class of 2025.

Would you please stand so we can celebrate and applaud you?

Thank you.

We now ask all of our guests to please rise and join with students, staff, and faculty i singing America the Beautiful.

lead by graduating senior Landon Black, with graduating senior Clara Fuller and pianist Nessia Brooks.

Following the singing let us all remain standing to observe a moment of silence to offer our thoughts and prayers to one classmate, Hannah Davies, who is unable to join because of a critical injury and to honor all those who we have lost.

They will be remembered and will always be part of the Michigan State University family.

O beautiful for spacious skies For amber waves of grain For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain America America God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

Thank you very much.

Please be seated.

The occasion of this ceremony finds us assembled in gratitude for a strong university and college community, and for our faculty and student body in which we take tremendous pride.

Beyond words of celebration and ceremony, our program today will also include select performances from graduating seniors.

This sampling represent only a small part of the talent within this class.

Each of you have developed and expressed your talent individually and collectively, in class and solo performance, and in ensembles.

Through the work you have accomplished over the past years.

You have become collaborator in the best sense of the word.

We are grateful for the many contributions you have made on this campus and beyond, through your own outreach and engagement activities.

It's appropriate on this occasion to recognize those who have made this day and your awesome achievements possible.

We have in the audience today those individuals whose constant support and love have sustained you prio to and during your time at MSU with the parents, relatives and loved ones of our graduates.

Please stand so we may thank you.

Behind me, you may have noticed a group of exceptional individuals who have been dedicated to your success.

They have taught you, mentored you, nurtured you, perhaps bugged you in your growt as composers, music educators, performers, scholars, entrepreneurs, and future leaders of your professions and communities with the College of Music faculty and academic staff.

Please stand to receive our recognition and appreciation.

Thank you so much.

Thanks as well to Professor Rodney Whitaker and the MSU Jazz Orchestra.

One to the members of the class of 2025 who are providing musical selections as part of our celebration today.

And to Kelly Warner, who will b captioning our ceremony today.

Thank you all.

Commencement is a time of joy, and it marks an important transition.

This transition can also be bittersweet as students move on, leaving friendships and an academic community where you have spent 4 or 5, anybody for 6 years?

We'r trying to get graduation rates.

Oh that's good.

I don't see any there.

That's great.

Mark Largent would be very happy.

And, thank you for being diligent.

We will miss this graduating class next year.

We salute you, and we look forward to keeping in close touch.

And we greatly anticipate celebrating your future work and the impact you will make in this world.

We will now have the pleasure of presenting the College of Music Distinguished Alumni Award to our commencement speaker.

Mr. Damian Crutcher, would you please join me at the podium?

And I'll need Michael Croft to come help me as well, because I'm about to drop something.

I'm pleased to introduce our speaker, our featured speaker, a conductor, educator extraordinaire, and a 1990 MSU College of Music graduate, Damian Crutcher.

Following his graduation from MSU, Mr. Crutcher went on to earn a master's degree in wind conductin from the University of Michigan, followed by great success as the Director of Bands and Orchestra at Southfield Lathrop High School in Southfield, Michigan.

A native Detroiter and a and a graduate of Cass Tech High School, Mr. Crutcher has had an extraordinary impact on the cultural and civic life of his hometown, Detroit.

He is among a growing list of Spartan musicians, along with others working in key roles with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, serving as the managing director of DSO Detroit Harmony initiative.

Detroit Harmony is a citywide collaborative effort between the DSO and other arts nonprofits, schools, communit organizations, and city leaders.

In addition, Mr. Crutcher co-founded and serves as CEO of Crescendo Detroit, a nonprofit whose mission is to transform lives, to build character, to give a great running start and to provide mentorship, by engaging the in a variety of ways, including, intense instrumental music vocal music, and dance programs that promote artistic excellence and character building.

A highly active, impactful, and enthusiastic musician and educator.

Damian conducts the Farmington Concert Band, the Detroit Symphony Civic Youth Symphony Band, and their Detroit Community Concert Band, as well as being a frequent guest conductor and clinician throughou Michigan and across the country.

Damian, we congratulate you for your inspirational and successful artistic career as well as for your dedication to music education.

So on behalf of the faculty, students, staff, and alumni of the College of Music, I am proud to present you with the 2025 Michigan State University College of Music Distinguished Alumni Award.

Please accept this pylo and cash stipend in recognition of your many significant achievements, and we are blessed that you join us today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Okay.

Good afternoon everybody.

It's just it's good to be here, today.

And I'm trying not to tear up and and go throug all these emotional things, but, I just want to, say a few words.

today, first of all, I just want to thank, Doctor Forger for this invitation.

when he called me, I thought me.

You want me to talk?

He said yes.

So I was kind of glad my calendar was open, but, first, I also want to congratulate this wonderful class of students in front of me.

Class of 2025.

For y'all.

Help me do that one more time, everybody.

Congratulations.

And and it really is a pleasure to be back, everyone.

To tour the university.

That really made me who I am.

today.

And we also, we just want to honor your parents.

Let's give your parents and your loved ones a big shout out.

Once a day.

And w honor everyone on the platform.

Jim Forger, associate Dean Derek Fox, and Michael and the chair of the board of trustees, Kelly Tebay.

And everyone else on on the platform.

And also my brother, Fred Crutcher class of, 93. engineering is in the house.

Y'al give him a round of applause to.

And Professor Rodney Whitaker, everybody, I tell everybody, let's give him a round.

I, I tell everyone that we grew up together and went to the same church and played in youth orchestras, and nobody ever believes me when I tell him that he's done such a fantastic job, representing Detroit.

So we're proud of him.

And again, class of 2025.

I just come here today to salute you, and your hard work.

I salute your determination, of course, your tenacity and and your incredible musicianship that's allow for this college of music to be one of the very best in the world.

So do me a favor and just grab the person next to you and say, we did it.

Say we did it.

Yeah, I'm going to make you do some stuff today.

Say, if you all shout.

They didn't say shout.

They did it.

Rather give them a hand for doing.

And everybody.

So I'm going to demand some audience participation.

so just get ready, for that.

And I'm excited today because I'm, like you said, I'm a fellow Spartan, from the class of 1990.

And it's hard to believe that I graduated from undergraduate school in the 1900s.

Like, how old does that sound?

The 1900s, right?

so I understand this day, and I understand, what it means to you.

and this great accomplishment.

And then all of the questions that are goin through your mind, at this time.

So I understand, you know, the struggle wit juries, do they still do juries?

Yeah, you got that right.

Juries getting ready for juries, dealing with professors who just won't leave you alone.

Right.

They make you do mor and more and more trying to pull everything out of you, deadlines and all that kind of stuff.

And I'm not sure about you all, but I spent a lot of time in those dusty old practice rooms in the music building.

Anybody else can relate to that?

Right.

So I get it.

So I understand, that today.

And again, I salute you, on your accomplishment.

But I came today to also challeng you and and to charge you that on top of making good music at the highest form and, and being good citizens and representing, the college music of music that you do what other Spartans also do best.

And I have named it the Spartan Magic.

Right.

So turns to the person nex to you and say, work your magic.

Say it one more time everybody say, work your magic.

Work your magic.

And what, what and what do I mean?

What do I mean by that?

And it's the Spartan magic.

Everyone that has me here in front of you.

That as you.

As you perfect your art, as you perfected music, and as you apply for jobs and you audition for different things, that you do something else, and I'm going to charge you to do these things tha you look out for somebody else, even at this time in your career, that you look out for somebody else, that you open doors for other people, that you invest your art, you're knowledge and your resources into someone else who may need a boost, that you set someone else's dreams on fire.

And I don't know how to explain that.

Everyone don't know how to explain it, but artists and musicians, those who invest in other peopl who look out for other people, for some reason, their art, their music is very large.

It has a lot of depth to it.

So I encourage you to do that.

as you, as you go through, as the Spartan magic, if we've been doing it for decades.

So now I'm going to share a couple stories with you and the they always taught us in the church, say what you got to say us.

Sit down and I'm going to go sit down after this, but I'm gonna share a couple stories with you to show you how Spartans, have done this thing down through the years.

I started playing French horn by accident in high school.

I was Castex worst trumpet player, and my band director suggested to me.

I said, Mr. Crusher, you should find something else to play.

Thank God he didn't put me out right.

I was really bad.

and I and I happened to see the the horn on TV one night.

and the camera that I shot behind the the French horn section.

So I went into school, and everyone I, told my band to.

I went to play that instrument where the people put their hand on the bell, and he looked at me and said, Mr. Crusher is called a French horn.

And he and he dug one out.

And I have to tell you tha my life has never been the same since then.

And one summer I attended the all state, all state program in Interlochen, which was a wonderful program.

And during those two weeks, I decided that I wanted to be an outstanding teacher and a conductor.

And the horn professor of that year for the All-State student was Doctor Ellen Campbell, and she was a Michigan state grad and a fantastic horn player.

And she said to me one day, hey, where are you going to go to school?

I said, I don't know.

I think I'm gonna go to Wayne State or I'm going to go to Howard University.

You know what she said?

She said, nah, come to MSU.

She said, I want you to meet m husband, Doctor Doug Campbell.

He's a professor of French horn at MSU.

So we walked down the hallway and he said t me, I would love for you to be in my studio at Michigan State University.

So guess what?

Two years later, I was.

All it takes sometimes is you saying something to somebody, to offering your advice, to opening up a door to make a suggestion to somebody else.

And that's part of the Spartan magic.

Everyone just holler.

Spartan magic.

All right?

This is what we do.

We don't always sit on the corner and profess to be the best, and the leaders and the smartest in the room, but guess what?

We get the stuff done.

And as we achiev and as we go higher, guess what?

We always take somebody else with us.

So today I'm charging you that as you proceed, as you go through that you take somebody else with you to look out for somebody else.

And Detroit, we have this saying where we say, put somebody else on, right?

It means open up a door.

It means don't gatekeeper, but share the information that you have.

And I got to Michigan State Universit and I met Doctor Ronnie Wooten, and I'm almost done.

Everybody.

And Ronnie Wooten was a graduate conducting student at Michigan State University, studying with Jim Corcoran.

And he was African American.

He was the most amazing conductor I'd ever seen.

And he stopped me in a courtyard one day, everybody, and he says, what do you want to be?

And I said, I want to be where you are.

I want to be an outstanding educator and a fantastic conductor.

He said, no, you don't.

He said, you're not ready.

I said, yes, I am.

And he challenged me.

And from that day forward, Ronnie Wooten gave me free conducting lessons every week for four years as an undergraduate student at Michigan State University.

Right.

Which which opened up another door for me.

Some years later, I would take a conducting workshop at th University of Michigan, and H. Robert Reynolds saw me conduct and he said, hey, you, I need to talk to you.

He says, listen, I do not recruit students.

I have a waiting list.

And he would tell you this, I have a waiting list of 100 students, but I am recruiting you to come study with me at the University of Michigan.

So because of Ellen Campbel and Doug Campbell and writing, running and running and doing the things that Spartans do, I was able to study with the world's greatest conducting teache is Robert Reynolds for two years on a full fellowshi at the University of Michigan.

And so I want to encourage you all that somewhere in your life i going to be a Damian Crutcher, and all he needs for you to do is tell him which way to go.

So suggest to him what's, to set his dreams on fire.

And when you do that, and again, I don't know how to explain why it happens, but your own personal music making is going to have much deeper depth and more of that.

that's the kind of music that we want to make.

And I want to close here.

I've never had the chance to thank the college of Music for what they did for me.

my mom passed in November of my freshman year, and I wasn't sure if I was going to even come back to school, but my dad said, yes, you're going back and you're going back tomorrow.

And I said, in my dorm roo Sunday night after the services and the dorm room just spun around, and I went to class the next day.

I got to the College of Musi the next day, and every one of my professors, said to me, whatever time you need, whatever you need, we got you.

Forger, Doctor Forger, Doug Campbell, Phil Sender, Judy Palick Kim Bloomquist Dave Katzman, and Ronnie Wooten.

I've always wanted to thank them.

So I want to take this time and thank MSU for doing that for me, for wrapping arms around a young black kid from the northeast side of Detroit, first generation college that did not know what was going on and who made me what.

I am today.

So let's give a round of applause, everybody, to the College of Music.

And guess what?

So these wonderful graduates that stood in front of me.

Congratulations.

Hey, go green, go green, go green!

Hey, work your magic, everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you, Damien, for those wise and heartfelt words.

And, on behalf of all of us, for the hundreds of thousands of doors you have opened for many people across this state and across the nation, to share and have people grow through the power of music.

So here's to you.

Thank you so.

Pleas welcome the MSU Jazz Orchestra, one conducted by Universit Distinguished Professor Rodney Whitaker, as they perfor the Dizzy Gillespie composition Things to Come, arranged by Gill Fuller.

(Music Playin Dizzy Gillespie Things To Come) Wow.

If that doesn't get the, pulse going fast, I don't know what.

Well, congratulations.

And thank you all so much for providing special music.

Today was terrific.

We are honored that MSU Trustee Kelly Tebay, chair of the MSU Board of Trustees, has chosen to join us at this ceremony today.

Would you please welcome the Honorable Kelly Tebay.

Thank yo Dean Forger on behalf of the MSU Board of Trustees, I welcome all the graduates, families and friend who are with us this afternoon.

I just have to say, this is the best graduation at MSU, and I do not say that to every other graduation.

Just so you know, I requested and called dibs every year under the Michigan Constitution, the Board of Trustees is the governing body of the university by whose authority degrees are awarded.

Today's ceremony represent the culmination of discipline, intellectual work, and creative imagination.

Certainly no small accomplishment for many of you and your families here today.

The sacrifices have been long and great.

The degre you haven't earned acknowledges your success and honors those who have encouraged it.

Our wish i that you will always be leaders who generously us your intelligence and knowledge to improve the quality of life in your community, to advance the common good and to renew the hope in human human spirit.

Our faculty administration and the MSU trustees are all very proud of you.

Please accept our warmes congratulations and best wishes.

Good afternoon.

I'm Richard Fracker, professor of voice and the area chair of the Vocal Arts.

I've never been more honored as a teacher or a mentor than to be asked by our student speaker today to introduce him on this milestone day for him and for so many others on February 13th, 2023.

My last lesson of the day canceled, and I headed home a little earlier than normal.

By the time I arrived home, my phone had blown up with emergency messages and a da that seemed like two years ago.

And yet yesterday, for many of us, at the same time, it changed all of our lives dramatically, but none more dramaticall than our student speaker today, like all of my colleagues behind me, I immediately started texting my students, and one by one, they replied that they were aware, alert and currently safe.

That is all but one.

As the minutes passed, a deep dread fell over me that I repeatedly thwarted by conjuring a dozen perfectly acceptable reasons wh I was not receiving a response.

And then I got the call that physically wobbled me.

Troy was seriously wounded in surgery and fighting for his life through a remarkable team of medical personnel and therapists, and a deeply committed and loving family.

And I cannot emphasize that enough.

A peer support group, many of whom are graduating this day, a very caring faculty and staff and administration seated, but all behind me.

And as Troy has shared with me on several occasions, his most beautiful cat.

Troy survived.

But the remarkable but the most remarkable chapter of Troy story is not his survival.

It's been his recovery for his embrace, choices and actions that have profoundly inspired me, his colleagues, our faculty and others.

Beyond measure.

Troy and I shared many tears and hugs in those early days, as it was difficult for Troy to even enter the building again.

It was difficult for him to enter my office again.

He had to lear how to take a deep breath again and to relearn many things technically that he had once known very well.

Everything was different.

Everything was uncertain, feelings were overwhelming and unpredictable.

But he persevered.

Troy sang in virtually every studio class after he returned, and modeled more perfectly for his peers how to learn how to risk, how to fail, and how to come back stronger than anything I could have ever implemented on my own.

Troy evolved into a better version of himself.

He became a wonderful teacher, singer, stage manager, advocate, spokesperson, colleague, and a friend.

Instead of bitterness, he chose generosity instead of walls.

He chose vulnerability instead of silence.

He chose to raise his voice loudly and thoughtfully and professionally, to stop once and for all the senseless tragedies of gun violence against our most precious of resources our children our students, and our futures.

I tell my students repeatedly that to be a great singer and a great musician, they must first learn to become great people, and that that journey is perhaps the most challenging journey of all.

I do not intend to make Troy out to be superhuman.

He is not.

And he will tell you that himself.

But in my opinion this is what makes the choices he made and the deeds he has accomplished the most special of all.

He has embrace his humanity with all its flaws, far soone than most of us are capable of.

He has become a great person and he belongs here, and he represents the best of us.

Troy is someone I will always hold dear to my heart.

Please put your hands together and welcome our 2025 College of Music student speaker, Troy Forbush.

Thank you, Professor Fracker for the warm introduction that shows you may just know me better than I know myself.

I'm truly going to miss our weekly voice lessons, where you open the doo and exchange one of two looks.

One that meant we were ready to sing and or one that meant it was prim time for an unofficial Fracker therapy session.

If it were the latter without missing a beat, I would then make a beeline to the orange chair to cry.

How luck I am to have a therapy service that also offers complimentary voice lessons.

From the moment you met me, a once confused advertising freshman in the Commerce side college to standing beside you today, you always saw a version of me I had not yet discovered.

You believed in the person I was becoming long before I could see them myself.

Who could have ever guesse the journey we would embark on being a Fracker bear in your studio felt like catchin the biggest salmon in the river.

And I thank you.

Round of applause for.

To the education and voice faculties.

Thank you for your mentorship your humility, and your example.

Being in your presence is experiencing community at its finest because of your care.

I leave the College of Music feeling confident and capable of greatness.

Another round of applause.

Welcome.

Class of 2025.

Friends and family, faculty and distinguished guests.

Toda we honor the music we've made, the friendships and community we've nurtured, and the culmination of years of hard work that has led us to these very seats.

Thank you to my graduating class and the college advisory community for the honor of representing you and the College of Music as your student speaker.

As we prepare to step int the next chapter of our lives, I want to remind yo of the dedication and resilience it took for you to find your place here, the routines you establish, and the chances that you too as you went to your first class or attended the club meeting on campus, hoping you'd make a friend.

Let's also not forge those of us who spent our entire first year of school over zoom, adjusting our Mike settings so that a 40 year dynamic would hopefully be bearable to the ears.

We are living proof of the power of community.

In the wake of February 13th, 2023.

A testament to the truth that how we choose to respond to tragedy matters.

Trust that I witnesse firsthand the way this community lifted one another up in a grave time of need, broke down barriers of division fueled by fear, and leaned into the hard conversations surrounding the devastating impact that senseless gun violence had on the heart and soul of our community.

Right here.

We are not defined b the hardships we have endured.

We are define by how we continue to persevere and practice bravery by simply showing up for one another.

We carry with us the strength of knowing that even in one of the darkest hours Michigan State University has ever seen, and I hope will ever see, we remembered just how to love thy shadows.

Born in Lansing, Michigan and raised in the next town over.

I've been sporting MSU gear since day one.

Some of my fondest childhood memories of being raised a Spartan come from tailgating, football games, and the one field grass lot being handed far too many hot dogs fresh off the grill, whacking my da with the stadium seat cushions because I thought it was hilarious.

It was.

And pressing the button on one of those old MSU bottle openers that would blare muffled, staticky recording of the Spartan Marching band performing the fight song over and over again.

That is until my siblings finally got it taken away from me.

I promise I was just as annoying of a youngest child as I sound.

Love you Zach and Sloan.

Today I'll joi my brother as a third generation Michigan State University alumnus, following in the footsteps of our beautiful parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

That is an achievement I am enormously proud of to my family.

I love you to the moon and back.

Two years ago I was forced to change in ways that no one could ever b prepared for the kind of brutal, unwelcome chang that doesn't ask for permission.

On February 13th, 2023, a gunman entered my classroom in Burkey Hall and opened fire at me and my classmates.

He continued to the MSU Union and did the same.

One minute I was stressing over an upcoming assignment.

The next I was facing the raw, real possibility of death.

I fought to stay conscious, terrified that if I close my eyes I might never open them again.

In the ambulance, the paramedics asked me questions and I focused on answering them to stay alert.

Every choice, every moment leading up to that night became poignantly vivid.

This forced me to question everything about the reality that betrayed my trust.

Who was I?

What did I truly value?

I can't say I know the answers of life's burning questions just yet, nor do I think we're ever really supposed to, for what I have learne is how to make space for grief.

I grieve for my fellow Spartans Alex Verner, Arielle Diamond Anderson, Brian Frase,r I grieve for the faith I placed in a world I did not yet understand.

I grieve the part of myself I left in Berkey Hall that night.

Still, I don't regret who I've become thereafter.

The love and affinity that I found for waking up each day and choosin to do one good deed for myself on the path toward healing, those small deeds begin to add up.

Grief is a natural part of being human, and as time passes we must heal, not by bargaining with the grieving process or resisting its presence, but by learning to coexist with i and not lose sight of ourselves.

Of course, I am angry, but I'm still learning the healthiest ways I can turn that anger into action.

And that is okay.

In Season of Spring, we watch as the cherry blossoms bloom across our beloved campus, a reminder that in this period of transition, they too have she their previous forms to blossom at just the right moment.

From this day forward, I ask that you welcome new experiences with an open heart.

Know that it's natural to grieve the life you lead here, but don't allo the growing pains to overshadow your willingness to enjoy the present one day without even realizing it, you'll wake up and find that you're no longer the person you once were.

You've already changed.

You've already grown.

And that is a beautiful thing.

While navigatin the busy schedule of a musician, it's easy to get caught up in the constant pursuit of the next goal, the next performance, the next milestone.

I encourage you to take a moment, pause.

Breathe.

Reflect on how far you've come.

Growth doesn't just happen in the striving.

It also happens in the stillness, in gratitude, in the quiet acknowledgment that we are already, in so many ways successful because we are enriched.

Remember, you found your place here because you held onto the belief that you are deserving of great things.

Even when the community we built within the College of Music is out of sight.

As we move through this world, it is never truly lost.

Our bonds are not bound by time or distance.

They live on within us.

How we choos to spend our time is precious, but as long as our hearts are still beating, we are here with the opportunity to do good.

Thoug we have faced and will continue to face unprecedented times throughout our lives, we do not have to let them dictate the futures we dream of and deserve.

I wouldn't be who I am today without the college music, but I'm eager to meet the person I will become.

I'm eager to, I'm eager to see where thi journey takes all of you next.

That's what graduation really is.

A leap of faith into the unknown.

It's trusting that even in the discomfort of change, you are taking form of who you are always meant to be.

That feeling of being caught between now and then, now and what's next?

That's the sign.

It's time to move forward.

It's time we shed our current forms and bloom.

Unpack the baggage you've packed and invest in who you are today and who you plan to become tomorrow.

Trust that no matter where life leads you next, you will soon find new places where you belong.

Go green.

Congratulations.

That was wonderful.

Good afternoon.

I'm Derek Fox, associate dean for graduate studies, research, and creative endeavors.

Would you now welcome to the stage graduating seniors Clara Fuller Lacey Cooper, Eleanor Barbour, Fiona Breen, Yadi Lux, Maddie LaJoyce, Lily Russell, Troy Forbush, Landon Black, Joey Cross, Joshua Marston, Jacob Turner, and pianist Nassir Brooks, who will perform Make Our Garden Grow from Candide, composed by Leonard Bernstein.

(Performing Make Our Garden Grow) Any questions?

We now take the opportunit to present some special awards.

We have the pleasure of awarding the Dorotha J.

And John D. Withrow Excellence in Teaching Award.

Today, this endowed awar is given annually on the basis of peer review to exceptional members of the MSU College of Music faculty who have rendered distinguished service to the University and the student body through excellence in instructional performance and or scholarly activities.

I am pleased to present this year's recipient, Sarah Long with the pylon and cash stipend.

Congratulations, Sarah.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

I think that was a seated standing ovation.

Congratulations, Sarah.

Just as our graduating students embark on a new phase of their lives, so too will two valued faculty members who are retiring.

They have collectively served MSU for the past 75 years.

Neither of them is 75.

I don't think.

Would you please join me in welcoming and thanking, two individuals asked to stand professors John Reed and Phil Sinder.

Good afternoon.

I'm Michael Kroth, associat dean for undergraduate studies.

At the April Board of Trustees meeting.

277 students from all graduating seniors were recognized with Board of Trustees Award for having the highest cumulative scholarly records at the close of the preceding semester.

I would like to recogniz Mark Davis, Clara Fuller, Emmett Lewis, and Matthew Webb before recipients of the two 2025 Board of Trustees Award Mark Clara, Emmett, and Matthew, please stand and be recognized.

I would like to ask Professor Yvonne Lam to join me at the podium to share the announcement of this next award.

The recipient of the 2025 College of Music Outstandin Senior Award is Maria Skidmore.

Maria, would you please join us at the podium?

For this.

Maria lit up the room from the very first time she walked into my studio.

I remember thinking she's so sunny, so open hearted.

College is going to eat her alive.

But instead, those very qualitie turned out to be her superpower.

They gave her the resilience and compassion not just for herself, but for everyone around her.

Over the past four years, I've watched Maria meet challenges head on, always with grace, humility, and a good dose of humor.

She grew into a powerful leader in my studio, someone her peers looked up to not because she's perfect, but because she's completely okay with not being perfect.

Instead, she has shown ho just focusing on always getting a little better can add up t something truly great over time.

Her example has helped to shape a lasting culture of care and growth in my studio.

Maria, your time here has been a gift to me and many others at MSU.

I'm so proud of you and I can't wait to see how you continue to shape those around you through music.

Student who participate in and fulfill the requirements of the Honors College by completing a rich programs of study, are identified as graduating with Honors College.

Distinction with those graduates the students who are graduating as members of the Honors College.

Please stand and be recognized.

Students who attain a grade point average of 3.98 and higher are awarded University High Honor.

University honor is awarded to students who have earned a grade point average of 3.89 to 3.97.

The multicolored cord and the gold cord added to the Academic Robes designates these honors.

Will all students who are graduating with high honor and with honor please stan and accept our congratulations.

In recognition of Michigan State University's ongoing commitment to education abroad, I ask all student who participated in an education abroad program while at MSU t please stand to be recognized.

Many college music students give their time and talents to important outreach and engagement activities.

These have include participation in the college's Beacon Hill Concert Series, sensory friendly concerts, educational and engagement residency programs, and early childhood classe at the Community Music School, among many other programs.

With those graduating seniors who have participated in community outreach activities.

Please stand and be recognized.

Would you please welcome to the stage graduating senior Mar Davis and Lu-Ming Yang, who will perform Counter Piece Number one, composed by Vassily Brandt.

(Music Playing) At this time, with thanks to a wonderful Wharton Center stage crew that's helped us off so beautifully today.

Thank you all.

You've been terrific.

We shall begin the conferral of the baccalaureate degree upon candidates from the major disciplines of the College of Music.

I will now ask the chairpersons and distinguished colleagues to come forward and read the names of the graduates.

I am pleased to introduce Kevin Bartek, Chair of Musicology.

Will the candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree in music please come forward?

(Conferral of Degrees, Reading Graduate Names) I'll now ask trustee Tebay to join me at the podium for the conferral of degrees.

Degree candidates, would you please stand?

On behalf of President Guskiewicz, who has delegated to me the authority of the State of Michigan, vested in the Board of Trustees, I confer upon all of you the degrees to which you have been recommended, with all the rights and distinctions to which they entitle you.

I now ask each of you to move your tassel from the right side of your cap to the left side, signifying your admission to the community of scholars.

Congratulations, MSU alumni.

I now invite all to rise and to sing both verses of the alma mater led by graduating senior Troy Forbush, graduating senior Jacob Turner, and pianist Nassia Brooks.

Lyrics can be found in the handout.

Following the alma mater, we ask that the audience be seated until the platform party faculty and graduates have recessed.

MSU we love thy shadows When twilight silence falls Flushing deep and softly paling Oer ivy covered halls Beneath the pines well gather To give our faith so true Sing our love for Alma Mater And thy praises MSU.

When from these scenes we wander And twilight shadows fade Our memory still will linger Where light and shadows played In the evening oft well gather And pledge our faith anew Sing our love for Alma Mater And thy praises MSU.

(MSU Fight Song)