Oh, no.

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A homeless person.

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Oh.

Good evening, everyone.

Faculty.

You may be seated.

I am Glenn Chambers, the interim dean of RCAH.. And it is our pleasure to join with one another today to celebrate the graduation of the 15 entering class of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

Students, you may be seated as well.

Sorry.

Let me begin by acknowledgin that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary land of the Anishinaabeg Three fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples in particular.

The university resides on land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw on behalf of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

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 communitie who live here now, and for those who are forcibly removed from their homelands.

By offering this land, acknowledgment, as had become increasingly common we affirm indigenous sovereignty and the complicated history of the land grant university.

Now, let me ask the class of 2025 if they are able to please rise and turn towards caregivers, parents, family members, either given or chosen and important loved ones.

It is through the suppor of these individuals that enable your success.

Next, let me ask the class of 2025 to remain standing agai if they are able, and turn back towards the main stage to the RCAH faculty and staff who have guided you on this journey.

As you look on at this group of of leaders, I hope that many memorable thoughts about your time and RCAH come to mind.

Each of these individuals have committed themselves to excellence in undergraduate education and making RCAH the place it is today.

Please join me i thanking them for their support in your respective and collective journey.

Please reserve your applause until all the names have been read.

Vice Provost an Dean of Undergraduate Education Mark Largent.

RCAH Director of Student Success and advising Marissa King.

Alumni representative Virginia Keesee.

RCAH faculty in attendance John Aerni-Flessner, Toby Altman, Eric Aronoff, Steve Baibak, Guillermo Delgado, Tama Hamilton Wray, Laura MacDonald, David McCarthy, Terese Monberg, Kelly Richman, Cristian.

Sanchez, David Sheridan, Estrella Torrez, and Scott Yoder.

There's two more.

Two were also there faculty who wish they could be here but were not able to attend.

Vincent Delgado and Sitara Thobani.

All right, we're good now.

You may be seated.

I would like to recognize our community partners, RCAH graduate fellows, mentors, friends and supporters in the audience.

I would also like to recognize RCAH staff members.

Morris Arvoy, Alyssa Briones, Katie Crombe, Marcus Fields, Alison Fox, Laurie Hollinger, Andrew Midgley, Rugeli Ramereiz, and Corinne Williams.

I'd also like to than Kelly Warner and her colleagues for providing the captioning for our ceremony.

I would also like to thank the Wharton Center staff for hosting us on this important day.

It's okay to clap for that.

Okay.

If able and willing, all please rise for the singing of The Star Spangled Banner with soloist Eleerna Correava accompanied by the MSU Jazz Orchestra, too, under the direction of Anthony Stanko.

O say can you see by the dawns early light What so proudly we haild at the twilights last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight Oer the ramparts we watchd were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets red glare the bomb bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave Thank you.

Please be seated.

Unfortunately, the Honorable Kelly Tebay of the MSU Board of Trustee could not be here this evening.

So I will read remarks on her behalf.

On behalf of the MSU Board of Trustees.

I welcome all the graduates, families and friends who are with us at this evening's undergraduate commencement.

Under the Michigan Constitution, the Board of Trustees is the governing body of the university by whose authority degrees are awarded.

And we take great pride in sharing this exciting milestone with you.

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 degree you have earned acknowledges your success and honors those who have encouraged it.

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

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

Please accept our warmest congratulate and best wishes.

We als pay tribute today to graduates who distinguished themselve by earning the Board of Trustees Award for Academic Excellence, achieving a 4.0 GPA 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 semester is spring semester.

Michigan State University had 271 total students, earned a grade point average of 4.0.

One of these students is here with us this evening.

Will Jenna Cook please rise and remain standing to accept our congratulations.

Jenna.

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

On behalf of the faculty administration and the trustees of the university.

I congratulate you and wish you the best.

Thank you.

I would now like t introduce Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Mark Largent to the podium.

Good evening, family and friends, community members and certainly to the graduates.

I give you my warmest wishes from the provost and the rest of the staff and the provost office.

congratulations on achieving this tremendous milestone.

And, of course, congratulations to your family and friends, loved ones and supporters who are part of this achievement with you students.

Two things to say to you first.

First, I apologize for all the emails that I send you.

you get tons of them from me.

and if you've read 1 or 2, I appreciate it.

Secondly, your time her as a student has been temporary, and as I'm sure it feels righ now, all too temporary as these years passed by very, very quickly.

as a student, your relationship with the university is but a temporary one.

Today, you become a member of the alumni, and that is permanent.

So today is a momen of transition from the temporary to the permanent, from student to alum.

And as you make that transition.

Please take the time to savor it.

I remember all three of my graduations bachelor, masters and PhD in print them in your mind this moment.

This time you've earned it.

And it's a tremendous accomplishment.

We are very proud.

We are very grateful.

And we are very excited for you.

It's an honor to be up with your faculty, deeply devoted folks who have committed themselves to supporting you on this journey.

And I'm here today to bestow on one of you the Richar Lee Featherstone Endowed Prize.

The Featherstone Priz is given to a graduating senior majoring in any discipline, and this year's winner is the second RCAH student to have won this award in the last 30 years.

The Featherston winner exhibits an open, curious and creative approach to education and ideas.

Their intellectual ingenuity is evident, and they have a demonstrated exceptional character and leadershi in furthering their own progress by enriching the lives of others.

You can certainly see why an RCAH student is very well suited for an award like this.

Demonstrated innovation and creativity, commitment to community service.

The winner will receive a grant to be used however they wish for travel.

For reflection.

For further study.

it is up to them.

This year's winner.

I would appreciate if you would come join me o the stage is Chase Jerome Davis.

Nice to see.

Well, I am, very, very happy that Chase won for several reasons.

We are fellow North Dakotans.

I know his family is here.

I think most of the North Dakotans in Michigan are in this room right now.

And, as a longtime member of residential colleges, Briggs and Madison, both, a North Dakota and, who's a member of a resident college.

Made me exceptionally happy.

But as I work my wa through, the reasons why he won, and as the committee explained to me why they chose him for this award.

I told him if he won, he would have to stand awkwardly next to me while I said nice things about him.

he was nominated by Professor Aronoff.

Thank you, professor Aronoff.

And receive strong letters of support from Professor Areola and, Marceau.

he, as you know, is a member of the RCAH Community concentration and community Engagement.

he's been a student inter at the RCAH center for poetry, served as an undergraduate research assistant for Doctor Aronoff on his book project on anthropology and science fiction.

A cultural programmer for the North American indigenous student organization Nisso, where he coordinated events, manag logistics, develop programing.

He acted as master of ceremonies for the annual Powwow of Love from 2000, from 2024 to 2025.

And he organized and buil the 2024 Indigenous Peoples Day Wigwam that stood in People's Park for two days.

His nominator introduced him to us as a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, bringing to MSU both his cultural teachings and his commitmen to both knowledge and community.

Chase, they said, is Incisively critical and inspiringly creative thinker and artist whose work and interest in the arts and humanities is always grounded in serving communities, needs and interests.

He asks unique and creative questions with similarly unique and creative, like minded, solutions.

He has a commitment to community engagement through NASA and through the RCAH center for poetry.

He's held poetry workshop with the Lansing based Grit Glam Guts group, contributing to the Detroit Green New Deal project, and held arts and poetr workshops for incarcerated youth at Ingham County Youth Center.

He desires, his recommender said, to work for others before working for self.

they called him full of humility, which I most certainly experienced in our interview with him.

He is, they said, someone who demonstrates love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and the truth.

The seven grandfather teachings in the mission of a community he pursues.

They said in an act these beliefs chase and his letter that had to accompany his nomination so that he had a passio for working with the community, which itself would translated into his degree path.

The coursework that he's been able to take has broadened the types of communities has been able to engage with, and his personal goals include working with the indigenous communities he plans and for the same, exceptionally grateful to continue his work at Michigan State, pursuing a master's degree in student affairs and administration.

When I called Chase to tell him, well, I always save the winner for the last phone call, we could call all of the ones we interviewed by Save the Winner for the last.

And I said, I save the winner for the last chase, and you're the last.

I.

That's a very long pause.

Sort of wondering if maybe he had hung up.

long pause.

And then Chase said, really?

Thank you.

Chase.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for everything that you have done with the community.

Thank you for just being you.

And thank yo for continuing your work here.

Congratulations.

Here you go.

Congratulations, Chase.

And thank you, Mark.

Now, I would like to take a few minutes to recognize the following students.

Students who participate in and fulfill the requirements of the Honors College by completing enriched programs of study are identified as graduating with Honors College.

Distinction.

These graduates wear a white collar stole with the HC designation.

All students who are graduating as members of the Honors College.

Please stan and accept our congratulations.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Students who attain a grade point average of 3.89 to 3.97 are awarded the University Honor.

University High Honor is awarded to students who have earned a grade point average of 3.98 and higher.

These honors are designated by the Gold Court.

Add it to the academic robes with all students who are graduating with honors and with high honor.

Please stand and accept our congratulations.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

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

We are so grateful you selected Michigan State University and so very proud of your achievements.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

In recognition of Michigan State's ongoing commitment to study abroad, I ask all graduates who participated in or are participating in a study abroad program while at MSU to stand so that we may recognize you.

I would like to recognize those students who, in addition to.

I'm sorry.

Yes.

Please be seated.

Yeah.

I would like to recognize those students who, in addition to their degree in the arts and humanities, are also earning an additional major or second degree.

With those students, please stand.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Although some of yo will be standing again, I'm sure pretty quickly.

Community engagement is an important aspect of our students undergraduate career in RCAH.

All students who have participated in a community engagement activit during their education in RCAH.

Please stand.

Everybody.

Take it.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

I would now like to introduce solo soloist Eleerna Correava, performing.

Accentuate the Positive by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, arranged by Billy May.

For your enjoyment.

(Music Playing) Gather around me, everybody gather around me while I preach some feel a sermon coming on here.

The topic will be sin.

And that's what I'm a kin.

If you want to hear my story, then settle back and just sit tight.

While I start reviewing the attitude of doing right.

You got to accentuate the positive eliminate the negative latch on to the affirmative.

Don't mess with mister inbetween You gotta spread joy up to the maximum.

Bring bloom down to the man and have faith or pandemonium.

Liable to walk upon a seed.

To illustrate my last remark, Jonah in the whale.

Noah in the ark.

What did they do?

Just when everything looks so dark.

Man, they said, you better.

Accentuate the positive.

Eliminate the negative.

Latch on to the affirmative.

Don't mess with mister in between.

Now.

Don't mess with mister in between.

To illustrate my last remark, Jonah in the whale.

Noah in the ark.

What did they say?Everything.

Everything looks so other dark.

They said you better accentuate the positiv feeling eliminate the negative.

Latch on to the affirmative.

Don't mess with mister in between.

Don't mess with mister in between.

Thank you.

Now, I would like to introduce our first class speaker, Abigail Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Hi.

good evening everyone.

Faculty, staff, family, friends, and my fellow RCAH graduates.

First, I want to start off, b thanking everyone for being here today to watch as we celebrate this amazing accomplishment.

Your encouragement, guidance, and belief in us has made this moment possible and you've been an essential part of our journey.

We wouldn't be here without you.

As a first generation Latina student, I never could have comprehended all the experiences I have had throughout my time here.

Thank you to my family for allowing me to travel across the country to a random course, to a random state to pursue my dreams.

I could never have done this without your nightly support via FaceTime.

Thank you to all my friends who made this past four years and who gave me who.

Sorry.

Let me start again.

I'm a little nervous.

thank you to all my friend I've made these past four years who gave me a life outside the classroom, incredible memories and who constantly made me laugh until my ribs hurt.

Thank you to all my professors who always taught me something new, cultivated my love of learning, always pushed me to ask harder questions, and to never settle for easy answers.

Thank you to my adoptive family, who allowed me into their home and accepted me as one of their own here.

Thank you to all my mentors who saw potential in me even when I couldn't see it in myself, offered guidance with patience and care, and who reminded me that my voice matters.

And thank you to everyone els who went on this journey with me and allowed me to show up as my full, authentic self.

Over this past year, I've thought a lot about RCAH about what it means to me and the ways I can describe those emotions and those experiences that are so interwoven with my identity to people who don't know what it is or even care.

How do you explain a place that teaches you not just how to think about how to feel deeply?

How do you describe a community where your passions aren't just tolerated?

There's celebrated, nurtured, and challenged.

Even though I have a hard tim describing our wonderful college standing here today, I can't help to think back to my first days at MSU.

Walking into Snyder Phillips, unsure of what to expect, but knowing that I wanted to find a space where my passions and community could thrive.

I found that space in RCAH.

RCAH is more than just a major.

This college has become more than just a program of study.

It became a home, a family, a place where I could bring my full self into every conversation, every project, every piece of research.

It's a place that taught me that being thoughtful is radical, that being kind is powerful and that being critical does not mean you stop hoping.

If there's one thing RCAH has taught me, it's that stories are powerful.

They shape how we see the world, how we see each other, and how we see ourselves.

Whether it's through literature, art, history, or activism.

RCAH taught u that these stories can be acts of resistance, tools of empowerment, and bridges between people who may not otherwise understand one another.

For me, this has meant studyin the experiences of communities, exploring the intersections of art, injustice, and working alongside peers and mentors who care just as deeply about making an impact.

These experiences have reinforced that the humanities aren't just about studying the past, they're about shaping the future.

To try to explain RCAH is to try to explain a part of myself.

It's where I learned that the humanities are not just academic, their personal, they're political and they're essential.

Our time at RCAH, however, has not been without challenges.

This past year, we have found ourselves advocating for the very programs that shaped us, fighting for spaces where our diverse voices can thrive, and pushing back against forces that try to devalue the humanities.

Through it all, we have learned that our voices matter.

We have seen the power of collective action, of standing up for what we believe in and of refusing to be silent.

As we leave here today, we carry that responsibility with us.

The world needs our graduates like us more now than ever.

People who will challenge the status quo, who uplift unheard voices, who will bring creativity and critical thinking into every space they enter.

So what now?

What do we do with these lessons we've learned in the small but amazing college?

The answer is simple we keep going.

We keep questioning.

We keep creating.

We keep advocating whether we go on to be educators, artists, activists, scholars or leaders in our communities.

We take RCAH with us.

We take the passion, the curiosity, the commitment to justice, and the understanding that words, art, ideas can change the world.

Finally, I want to end thi the way that most ice breakers in RCAH begi with the Rosebud thorn exercise.

So my thoughts saying goodbye to the halls of Snyder Phillips, to the classes that felt more like conversations, to mentor and peers that have shaped me.

It's hard knowing that we're leaving behind a space that has been our home, our grounding, and our launching pads.

My Rose, the community we felt, the friendships, the shared laughter, the daytime movie marathons and late night board game sessions in the student center, the cut up donuts in boxes because no one can ever commit to eating the full thing.

The moments of collective joy and resilience.

RCAH has given me so many roses, way more than I can count.

But all of them and all of you, will be roses that I carry with me forever.

My bud.

What comes next?

The stories will write.

The change will create.

The people will become.

RCAH has taught us how to dream critically and act boldly.

And I can't wait to see how all of u will carry that into the world.

So to my fellow RCAH graduates, let's go forward boldly.

Let's bring the lessons of RCAH into every space we enter.

And let's never forget that the power to create change is already within us.

Congratulations!

RCAH class of 2025.

We did it!

Thank you.

Abby, I would now like to introduce our second class speaker, Jenna Cook.

All right.

if you will all indulge me, I want to start the speech by taking a deep breath together in.

Out.

Thank you.

as I stand here looking at all of you, I'm struck by the thought that at this moment, we exist together.

A constellation of unique souls gathered in a singular time and plac that will never be replicated.

We are surrounded by those that have shaped us friends, family, mentors and peers, each carrying unique stories and dreams.

This convergence right here, right now is ordinary and miraculous.

So thank you everyone for being in this extraordinary moment today.

My name is Jenna Cook and I'm a soon to be proud residential college in the Arts and Humanities graduate.

And I am also a proud college dropout.

But, you see, this wasn't my first attempt at a degree.

I dropped out of college because that first school didn't encourage curiosity or support me.

When I spoke out against injustice.

Stepping away gave me clarity.

oh, it gave me clarity.

I returned to college not just to get a degree, but to find a place that valued what I valued.

And RCAH was that place.

And taking risks led me here, proving that sometimes stepping back is the bravest step forward.

RCAH has bee a really special place for me, as I'm sure it's been for so many of my peers graduating today.

We have been given the incredible gift of being part of this community, a place where we can speak up against injustice and support each other during hard times.

This has also been a plac where we've been able to explore all areas of thought and creativity.

If you know me, you know two things.

I'm super injury prone and I also cry a lot.

I don't think I made it two minutes in the ceremony without starting to cry.

So, they're very core aspects of who I am.

and withi my first semester here at RCAH, I fell down the stairs outside of Snyder Hall, spraining my ankle.

And then a few weeks later I was sobbing when a professor told me that some people don't believe that Emory Douglass's work for the Black Panther Party is considered art.

I said, if that's not art, I don't want to be an artist.

Moments like these define RCAH here.

Education isn't about memorization.

It's about listening deeply challenging norms and shaping conversations that matter.

While much of higher education races towards efficiency, RCAH remains stubbornly human centric, we don't just seek answers, we seek perspectives.

In a world fractured by division, our education has taught us to build bridges.

When faced with comple problems, we learn to seek out diverse perspectives rather than quick solutions.

This college is wholly unique.

Our mission and the conversations we have cannot be minimized.

Just like this moment, RCAH and our communit are extraordinary and transcend the bounds of Michigan State University.

RCAH has given us a world, an alternative to the world, obsessed with competition, taught u the radical power of kindness.

It isn't just a personal virtue, but a foundation for collective action and lasting change.

The problems facing our society from the climate crisis to social inequity, ar too complex to be solved alone.

They demand communities where kindness builds trust, where diverse voices matter, and where we understan that our individual well-being is inseparabl from our collective prosperity.

We've seen this firsthand.

When one of us struggles, other stepped in when conflicts arise.

We worked towards understanding.

These weren't just kind of moments, they were practice for the world.

We hoped to create.

To our RCAHo faculty, you've been more than instructors.

You've been mentors who challenged us.

Champions who are centra before we did, and you weren't afraid to ask us tough questions to our RCAH staff.

You've supported us as whole people, not just students.

You created a space where we could gather, grow and in my case, cry in your office.

You have all built and participated in this rare and precious community.

Thank you to the class of 2025 dream of the communities that you'll build, the broken systems that you'll transform, and the art you'll create an unexpected places every day in my classes or in the art studio, I'm inspired by the vision and the work you all do.

I know that every one of us i a revolutionary in this world.

Every radical movement began with people who refuse to accept the world as it was.

And I've seen that spirit in all of you.

So here's our charge make the world more just more compassionate.

Not through grand gestures alone, but through daily commitments to truth, creativity and community.

The world doesn't need more people rushing towards predetermined success.

It needs people willing to pause, question, and imagine alternatives to what seems inevitable.

The world needs exactly who you are with your particular gifts and perspectives.

You've gained in part because of RCAH this moment, this gathering of us will never happen again.

Okay, it is both an ending and a beginning.

So as we go into different futures, may we carry with us the spirit of RCAH curiosity, compassion and commitment to seeing the world that we wish to see so take a deep breath.

Our work begins now.

Thank you.

Guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jenna I would now like to introduce our alumni speaker.

Speaker.

Virginia Keessee.

After graduating from RCAH in 2009, Virginia moved to Washington, DC to work for several environmental organizations, including Carbon War Room, founded by Richard Branson, which focused on mitigatin climate change by collaborating with companies, governments, and nonprofit efforts.

After working in DC for three years, Virginia moved to Portland, Oregon, where she spent over a decade leading global strategies and partnerships on Nike's sustainability team at the company's world headquarters.

During this time, Virginia earned her master's in business administratio from Portland State University with the focus on sustainable business.

She currently work at Conservation International, a global conservation nonprofit leading their sustainable fashion program and team.

Welcome back Virginia.

Well, hello my fellow RCAH grads.

Welcome to the Alumni Club.

you know, I didn't see the, student speeches before I wrote mine.

And what really stands out to me is the common themes and threads that were true when I graduated.

As I've reflected on my 16 years out there in the real world and what you two both talked about, and it helps me feel very connected to you, even though we've just met so anyway, to the formal speech now.

Hello, everyone.

It's wonderful to be here with you all this evening.

A teacher affects eternity.

They can never tell where their influence stops.

This quote by Henry Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams and great grandson of John Adams, speaks to the everlasting effect.

Educators and institutions like the Residential College in Arts and Humanities play in shaping not only our lives, but the world around us.

I'm here today to talk a little bit about that idea and how it's manifested in my career, in life, after my time at RCAH.

About 16 years ago I was sitting where you all are now.

RCAH was just beginning and its vision and mission was still untested outside of academia.

And I was a sophomore in college, still navigating the big question what do I want to do?

If you're lucky, you'll never stop asking yourself that question.

But if you're intentional, you'll begin asking an even better one.

Who do I want to become?

This question invites something deeper.

It shifts the focus from career to character, from doing to being.

And that journey can be boiled down to an equation I've revisited throughout my life.

What's your passion?

What lights that fire in your heart?

Plus your unique gifts for the world aligned to what the world needs was your vocation and your purpose.

Now, this equatio isn't something you solve once.

It's an ongoing process throughout life.

It evolves as you grow.

You learn and change.

And RCAH it helped me unpack that through curriculum mentorship in a community that encouraged reflection, creativity, and the pursuit of something bigger than myself.

To the parents and supporters in the audience, if you've ever questioned the value of a humanities degree, let me assure you the world needs the humanities now.

More than ever.

We need people who can ask hard questions, understand nuance, and build bridges between differing worldviews.

RCAH teaches that, and it teaches us ho to put our values into practice.

I am proof that RCAH gives the tools and foundation for a successful vocation and career.

In my career, I've worked alongside global executives, former presidents, governmental leaders, youth activists, indigenou peoples, creatives and artists.

Scientists and nonprofit organizations.

My pursuit to see the world from others point of view and buil our common ground was cultivated in these halls and on this campus, with this community.

The professors and community here provide the blueprint for what it means to be a critical thinker an an engaged citizen of the world.

They teach you how to harness your passion and gifts in pursuit of that bigger purpose.

Professors, your thoughtful guidanc coupled with your fiery passion for justice alongside your authenticity about what it means to be human, continues to shape me to this day.

And I have no doubt, will continue to guide this room of bright young individuals throughout their lives and their careers.

Look, I certainly didn' have a plan when I joined RCAH.

but what I did know, following a conversation with Professor Scott Yoder.

Well, painting a fence side by side during the alternative spring break in Costa Rica, as one does, was that RCAH was the place I could cultivate that curiosity and to find myself in the greater context of the world.

My own journey started in northern Michiga on the shores of Lake Superior.

I grew up as a kid, running i and around forests and beaches with it, which gave me a deep love for nature.

And when I began to understand modern society's impact on the environment, I felt deeply called to do something about it.

That calling led me here to this program, where I was able to explore humanity's relationship to the natural world through many disciplines art, activism, economics, policy and law, religion and media.

It gave me the foundation to begin to answering my own equation.

What does the world need an what are my gifts to offer it?

That cultivation of self has continued from my days as a student, environmental activists on campus, to studying natural resource management under the former Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources in DC and working for the former President of Costa Rica, Jose Maria Figueres, on issues such as climate change.

I later got my MBA so I could speak the language of business, which led me leading to sustainability, and strategy at Nike's world headquarters.

There I worked with the United Nations, leading climate scientists and artists like Billie Eilish to raise climate awareness through campaigns, media and storytelling.

Let me be real with you, though, for a second.

If you had told 19 year old me, megaphone in hand, trying to educate students about food waste on campus, that I'd one day work for a large national multi multinational corporation.

I would have politely said go kick rocks.

But I learned that to create the change we want.

We need people like us and like you inside the institutions where power lives.

We need people like you as we continue our pursuit of a more compassionate and well-functioning society.

That's where we can understand push shift and shape systems and structures from within.

And you will find your community just like you did at RCAH.

Your collaborator and your friends along the way, and they will give you the hope, energy and inspiration to keep going.

And when the systems and the intuitions fail us, your community is who you will rely on and work wit to co-create something better.

Today I work at Conservation International, a global organization that operates in nearly 100 countries places where nature, biodiversity, and people's livelihoods are most threatened by climate change, biodiversit loss and resource exploitation.

I lead our Fashion and Textile program, managing a $20 million fund in partnership with major global clothing companies.

We support farmers and producers in eight countries, including India, South Africa and Argentina, as they return to regenerative and indigenous agricultural practices.

In cultivating the materials we wear every single day like cotton, wool, leather and cashmere, I have used my seat at the table to advocate for others to be brought into decision making.

For example, one of the more meaningful projects I've had the honor of working on included collaborating with indigenous leaders and activists from all over the world to develop and publish the Indigenous Partnership Principles for fashion, meant to help global brands work towards more ethical and inclusive ways of designing and sourcing materials.

So back to the question.

Who do you want to become?

The world is always changing.

Context is always shifting and you must adapt.

But guided by your values, your fundamental questions and the foundation RCAH ha given you so much as possible.

When you identify your passions, your gifts, and match that to what the world needs, when you relentlessly pursue that curiosity, the world will open up to you in unexpected and beautiful ways.

I mean, look, when I was in my last semester of college, I still hadn' figured out what I wanted to do after graduation.

I had all mapped up on my wall though, you know, sticky notes and papers and pathways of where I could go after college.

You know, Peace Corps law school, grad school.

I had like five scenarios of where they might take me next ten years down the road.

Clearly I'm Type-A.

but that was how I managed the anxiety that comes with graduation.

But ultimately, what happene was an opportunity came forward.

I could have never foreseen a chance to study in DC through a new scholarship program, which led me to a caree I could have never anticipated, but I knew it was the right next step.

Based on how it made me feel and how it ignited my curiosity and my passion.

And that is what led me to be here with you today on stage as the first graduat of this program, 16 years ago.

I appreciate that today is for you as it was for me 16 years ago.

I keep saying that feel old.

A great day of joy, but also of deep uncertainty.

But I can assure you tha all the uncertainty around you and all the unknown that lie ahead, will play a far smaller role in your destin than what you carry within you.

So please give yourself the grace and the knowledge that you have everything you need right now in this roo to make the best decision about where your life should go next.

You won't have all the answers you want today, but as long as you continue to ask the right questions, you will find the answers you need.

And wherever your journey takes you in the coming months, years, and throughout your life, it will be an ongoing process of discovery, learning and understanding.

Continue to stay grounded and connected to those fundamental questions.

What are my passions?

What are my gifts?

And what does the world and my community need?

And I have no doub that you will live a meaningful, fulfilling life full of purpose and joy for yourself and those around you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Virginia.

I want to invite Associate Professor Scott Yoder to the podium to give remarks on behalf of the RCAH faculty and staff.

How y'all doing?

Good.

All right.

Hey, I think I can do this without my glasses.

Thank you for 24 point font.

Thank you.

Abigail.

Jenna.

Virginia.

Wow.

That's amazing.

I know this is supposed to be formal.

Relatively formal, but you wait.

And you are a hard act to follow.

I want to know who set up the order of these presentations.

Corinne.

Yeah.

Okay.

Ooh.

If I had any sense at all, I'd shorten my comments to what they said and sit down.

But I can't do that as I've been asked to speak tonight.

Not just for myself, but for all the faculty and staff in RCAH.

So on behalf of all of us, will say that we are very proud to be upstaged by students.

Right.

What more could an educator dream for?

Every commencement ceremony is significant to the graduates and their loved ones, but this one has additional meaning for RCAH.

The past year, our students, faculty, and staff and alumni have, as Abigail mentioned, been processing the potentia merger with the College of Arts and Letters.

But regardless of what decisions are made on that issue, you RCAH class of 2025 will likely be the last one to have its commencement.

Here in the Wharton.

If I understand correctly, next year MSU will replace these college ceremonies with a single university wide commencement.

We will miss these smaller, more intimate ceremonies where we know each student who crosses the stage to receive their diploma.

It is hard not to be a bit nostalgic, particularly if you're the oldest person in RCAH.

The first time RCAH commencement here was in 2011, when the first class of students who came into RCA as incoming first year students graduated.

We were so excited, we decided that all the faculty should share some remarks.

You can imagine how that went.

We were asked to limit ourselves to two minutes, maybe three.

So what do we do?

We all took 4 to 5 and the ceremony ended up being twice as long as anticipated.

So on this occasion, to honor the spirit, but not not the time commitment.

I asked my colleagues to write a 1 or 2 sentence message or two sentence messag that they could share with you, or that I could share with you, and that you can hear your word.

Their words, my voice.

Their words.

As a students in my class this semester can tell you yes, I'm talking about you, Annie.

Corinne Aviana Sydney.

And actually, I think this holds for Joe and Eddie and Angel as well.

the late scienc fiction writer and afrofuturist Octavia Butler has been my muse for the past few years.

And in light of all the pending changes for you, for RCAH for us, I wanted to use a short verse from her novel The Parable of the sower to frame my remarks.

So here they are.

All hope that you touch.

You change.

All that you change changes you.

The only lasting truth is change.

The more I come back to the verse, the more it means to me.

The universe is constantly changing, but ironically, most of that change is on a scale so immense that we hardly notice it.

I mean, we're traveling on a rock, spinning at over a thousand miles an hour around its axis and over 67,000 miles around the sun.

Miles per hour.

That's a lot of change, right?

We're much more concerned about change on a shorter human time scale, while insignificant relative to the size of the universe.

Change at this scale are more important to us personally and far less predictable.

Can any of us say, what will we be doing a year from now, much less 510, 16?

Of course not.

Change on the scale of a single human life is packed with uncertainty.

In fact, our lives are defined by constant change.

We've all been changing since the moment we were conceived.

To grow is to change.

And without change, there is no growth.

The relentless flow of change is punctuated by moments of particular significance that we recognize and celebrate this life.

Events.

Graduation is one of those events.

For most of you, it marks the end of your formal education and the transition from what you've been fo at least 16 years a student to, well.

That's up to you.

It will emerge as you shape a life, finding ways to match you skills, values, and aspirations to the opportunities the world affords you.

This kind of chang is both exciting and terrifying.

I like to think of change as a coin with two sides.

On one side is uncertainty, fear, and a sense of loss.

We're going to miss you.

On the other side is hope, optimism, and a sense of gratitude.

Graduates, you may feel uncertain, but you should know that my colleagues and I are confident in you.

Last week, we had an event in which over 40 Arc alumni shared their experiences with us.

Most had no more ide what they were going to do than you do today.

But like Virginia, they took it one step at a time.

They continued to learn an grow, made genuine connections, and used their creativity to align their values with their work.

You will do the same.

And if we've done our job well, we've helped you pac a go bag of knowledge and skills that you'll find valuabl wherever your journey takes you.

You can hear the hope and optimism, and may the messages from your faculty and staff.

Listen to their voices.

You have all gone through trials and challenges that few classes at MSU have ever had.

Eric Aronoff writes, and you face them with resilience, creativity, and passion.

You've brought back life back into our spaces after pandemic silence.

You give me hope for the future.

A Hamilto Rae expressed similar optimism.

I am in awe of your youthful wisdom, and you're inspired by your up to witness.

My hop is that you take these qualities and your gifts with you into your amazing futures.

As an alum herself, Laurie Hollinger provides you with an inventory of your go bag, knowing that RCAH alumni are, quote, equipped with some of the most sought afte soft skills that employers seek, including communication resilience, optimism, curiosity, and ability to learn responsibility, accountability and reliability.

And if you're worried that we think of you as generic RCAH students, Kelly Richman gives a shout out to two seniors and her theater for Social Change class.

Sidney.

She writes, made science spectacular in her scene about re greening our planet.

I know she will thrive wherever she is planted, and then made a lasting impression on our class during his brilliant resistance to authoritarianism.

As an intervening aspect, actor.

During our Forum Theater workshop.

I know he will continu to be a quiet force for justice and whatever comes next.

And as only a poet would do with a haiku that he wrote for this occasion, you can hear Tony Altman, I think, wisely suggesting that for optimism to be sustainable it must be tempered by patience.

Oh, snail, climb Mount Fuji.

Slowly, slowly.

Yeah.

Up to now, I've spoken of the flo of change that defines our lives as something that we face.

Something that happens to us.

But the first two sentences of Butler's verse paint a very different picture.

All that you touch, you change.

All that you change changes.

You.

Butler is calling on us to recognize our power to affect change, and her use of the terms you and touch reminds us that change happens even in the smallest of personal interactions.

Painting a fence.

We constantly shape and are shaped by others.

We are truly interdependent.

I like to think that we I mean the students, the faculty and staff alike.

Live this truth every day in RCAH by creating an environment that fosters meaningful interactions.

In RCAH, we connect in the residence halls.

We connect in the dining hall, the hallways, in the lounges, and we connect in classrooms, creative spaces, and offices.

We learn, we grow.

We change together.

We know and are known.

We build communit and together we take small steps towards creating the world we want to live in.

You can hear this theme of interdependence of changing and being changed.

And may the messages from my colleagues, John, are enough.

Lesner writes that RCAH has been generative in so many ways for students, for staff, for faculty, and for MSU as a whole.

While I may have likely taugh students much in my time here, you all have also pushed me to be more creative in my research and my life in general, but especially in my teaching.

The students have shown the way to a more creative and generative life.

Laura MacDonald echoes this.

Your creativity, curiosity and compassion have inspired our teaching during your time at RCAH.

It has been our privilege to support you in expanding your knowledge of the world and to help you develop the skills that you will use to make your own mark.

I can't wait to watch you leap forward into your next adventures.

Alison Fox reminds us that our connection to one another does not end tonight.

As you carry all that you'v learned into the next adventure.

Please know that the RCAH community will always be here for you.

We hope you'll continue to sta in touch and share your story, so that we can keep learning from you too.

And when our voice sends, quote, a hearty wolf and a cheer from Penny Lane and me, wishing everyone of you al the best in the years to come, we can all smile and remember the small but important ways we care for one another.

The more we pay attention to our interdependence, the more we become aware of our responsibility to act and care with intention.

What we do and how we do it matters.

I can assure you that we take that seriously, that responsibility seriously, and our role as educators.

And we expect you as our alumni to do the same.

Teresa Monberg points to this when she invokes a well-known Detroit based activist, Grace Lee Boggs.

She writes, reminds us that we are the leaders we've been looking for.

As you step into the worl and continue to lead to face and and lead change, remember that you are leading with others and it is not about you.

Remember RCAH's commitment to radical reciprocity, to co-generation of knowledge, to building sustainable infrastructures and relationships that we can carry forward for generations to come.

Dave Sheridan's message to you is a short but perhaps profound request.

Please live creatively.

I say perhaps because knowing our students as I do, I think he might have just asked fish to swim.

But give him credit as a communicator.

His is probably the only message tonight that you're going to remember word for word.

Finally, the recognition of our mutual responsibility also leads to a deep sense of gratitude.

I'm guessing you can all think of someone, probably someone in this room, who has influenced you profoundly.

I know I can be grateful for what they have done for you in the same way.

RCAH is what it is, only through the contributions of many people.

Vincent Delgado captures this truth and his message of gratitude.

I want to thank Michigan State University, its legion of stakeholders around the world and close to home, and my colleagues, including students, facult and community partners at RCAH for creating the space that shows how fully the arts and humanities in the context of a residential education, can meet the promise of a land grant public university.

You all provide a rare spac for all of us to engage in life defining and world changing work.

I said at the outset that it's hard not to be nostalgic.

And I admit, as we face uncertainty, I often find mysel wanting to hold onto the past.

I've been here a long time.

I love what I do.

I love who I do it with.

And I don't want to change.

But however understandable that feeling is.

And it's powerful.

It is not the way RCAH was established at a time of significant change at MSU.

It was established to provide arts and humanities students a new kind of educational experience, and it was established to develop engage students who we hope will work to creatively work with communities to provoke positive change.

Change is a part of our DNA.

Thus, in closing, I want to challenge you.

I want to challenge myself.

I want to challenge all of us to use our nostalgia in a positive way.

Not in a struggle to preserve a past we cherish, but in a struggle to create a future in which we realize anew the value that are most important to us.

We cannot.

We should not stop change.

But we can and we should shape it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Scott.

At this time, I hope you didn't go too far at this time, associate professor Scott Yoder.

We'll announce the names of the graduate as they receive their diplomas.

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

Please remain seated.

We ask the audience to be considerate in applauding your graduates as names are read.

We want each graduate's name to be heard.

Faculty, please stand.

(Conferral of Degrees, Graduate Names) On behalf of the president who has 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 distinctions to which they entitle you, according to custom.

You may now move your tassels from the right set from the right side of your caps to the left.

Congratulations, MSU alumni!

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

It is an achievement worthy of celebration.

And we are here this evening to celebrate the fact that you are now joining over 500 scholars, artists and advocates who have completed the academic program in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

That's worth a clap.

Yeah.

Faculty, please be seated.

Allow me to close this evening by reminding us that we are here to honor the accomplishments of our graduating students, as well as recognize all those who mad their accomplishments possible in this moment.

I'm drawn to the word and actions of doctor Grace Lee Boggs, the brilliant Detroit based activist who passed away at the age of 100.

In 2015.

Grace Lee Boggs reminds us that we are beginning to understand that the world is always being made fresh and never finished.

That activism can be the journey rather than the arrival.

That struggle doesn't always have to be confrontation, no, but can take the for of reaching out to find common groun with the many others in society.

As you transition into the next phase of your journey, remember as Doctor Boggs reminds us, that you play an active role in building this new world.

And just as the world is never finished, so too will you always be learning.

Your journey may likewise change courses.

I hope that your time in RCAH was but a small moment on our collective and shared journey to make a better and more just world.

We are confident that as yo walk out of the Wharton Center this evening, you will transform the world.

I now invite all to rise and sing the alma mater followed by the MSU fight song.

Audience.

Please remain at your seats until all graduates have recessed and join us for refreshments afterwards.

And graduates, Professor Baibak will be in th back at the reception as well.

If any of you want to send a nice video message to Professor Delgado, Vincent Delgado.

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.

(MSU Fight Song)