(soft music) (soft music continues) (soft music continues) (soft music continues) (audience cheering) (soft music) (audience cheering) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (audience cheering) (audience applauding) - [Announcer] Introducing the Interim president of Michigan State University, Teresa K. Woodruff.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) - Good afternoon, Spartans.

Are you ready to graduate?

(audience cheering) Welcome to Michigan State University Spring convocation, the start of the season's commencement activities for graduating seniors and welcome to Breslin Center, home to Spartan Athletic Triumphs and to celebrations of academic achievements like this one.

To those of you joining us by livestream, greetings as well.

Before I go on, I want to salute all of the families and friends who have been so important in our graduates lives and are here to share in the joy.

If this is your first such convocation that you've attended, as you look around, you can see you are part of a very large Spartan family.

For others of you, this convocation represents a multi-generational commitment to MSU and for all of you today is a testament to the vital role you played in the success of our graduates.

So will family and friends please stand, so we can show our appreciation.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) I also want you to help acknowledge the people who guided and supported today's graduates in a thousand ways.

Let's show some love to Michigan State's dedicated world class faculty and academic staff, many of whom are with us today.

(audience applauding) Our honorary degree recipient and keynote speaker today is one of those amazing faculty members and I cannot wait to introduce her to you in just a few minutes.

Indeed, we've been privileged to hear many dignitaries through the years inspire Spartan graduates with their words and with their examples.

In fact, in 1907, president Theodore Roosevelt spoke on the 50th anniversary of MSUs opening.

Roosevelt was a firm believer in civic duties and I think the class of 20, and I thought of the class of 2023, as I read one of his statements to that graduating class, there he said, "I believe in the happiness "that comes from the performance of duty.

"But I believe also in trying each of us "as strength is given to us to bear what another's burdens.

"I believe in the happiness 'that comes from the performance of duty, "but I also believe in trying each of us "as strength is given to us to bear one another's burdens."

Graduates, you and your families have been through a lot in your years at MSU, you have carried extraordinary burdens from COVID 19 to February 13.

You rose to each challenge by taking measures to keep yourselves and others safe.

You adapted to fulfill your academic programs.

Your degrees prepare you for a future we try to foresee, but your shared experiences equip you for what no one could predict.

And so today, class of 2023, you are bound together perhaps as no other class by the challenges you faced and through them the care you demonstrated for one another.

When I passed Beaumont Tower, the side of our original campus building, I often note that not all of its peaks are alike and they seem to beckon us to look further upward and to reach ever higher.

The class of 2023 has indeed reached higher to earn academics, honors, and other distinctions as you will hear today, and for nearly 800 of you, you will graduate with honors.

10 of you have served this country in the military, so thank you veterans for your service.

(audience applauding) This is a very diverse class coming from 44 states, 59 countries, and a wide set of cultural backgrounds and academic pathways.

At these ceremonies, we celebrate such broad diversity with the flags of our students' native lands and the banners heralding our colleges.

And when we shake your hands a little later, we will acknowledge the individuality of each of you.

Even as your shared identity of Spartans offers a special bond.

You are a remarkable graduating class, and I want you to hold onto that thought until I return at the end of today's ceremony to deliver my presidential charge to you, the class of 2023.

At this time, I ask you to rise as you are able and sing.

One stands of the Star-Spangled Banner, accompanied by the MSU Wind Symphony under the direction of Kevin Sedatole, professor and director of bands in the College of Music.

The singing will be led by Amira Coleman, a graduate student in music performance.

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

♪ O say can you see, by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hail'd ♪ ♪ At the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watch'd ♪ ♪ Were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare ♪ ♪ The bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ Gave proof through the night ♪ ♪ That our flag was still there ♪ ♪ O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ (audience applauding) Thank you.

And as you remain standing, I ask Interim Provost and executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Thomas Jeitschko, to join me at the lectern.

On this joyful occasion, let us also briefly acknowledge our pain.

Those lost in the violence of February 13, will be recognized with Posthumous degrees at their college graduation ceremonies.

Those scholars and leaders are forever part of our Spartan family, so let us pause here for a moment of silence to remember them and those working to recover from their injuries and all their families, and to acknowledge all those who have been impacted.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko will now present this morning's candidate for the awarding of the honorary degree.

- Dr. Lisa Cook.

Please step forward.

Interim President Woodruff, I have the pleasure on the honor of introducing to you Dr. Lisa Cook for the conferral of the honorary degree Doctor of Humanities.

- Dr. Cook, you are a highly accomplished and inspiring economist who has committed your life to advancing research related to economic growth, innovation, the rule of law, personal security and action to support and expand the field.

Your educational achievements include a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Spelman College, a bachelor of Arts degree as a Marshall Scholar in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University, and a doctor of philosophy degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

You have shared your experience in a wide variety of settings through the instruction and leadership displayed as a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University.

As director of the American Economic Association Summer Training Program at MSU, as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisors under President Barack Obama, and as a senior advisor at the US Department of Treasury under President George W. Bush, your endeavors and achievements at Harvard University, serving as deputy director for Africa research at the Center for International Development.

In addition to being a faculty member of the Kennedy School of Government are admirable.

You have received a multitude of awards and accolades and recognition of your sustained excellence.

Your skill has been highly sought after and you have displayed your efforts at some of the most distinguished universities and associations in the nation.

Your current work as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System entails important decisions and direction in regarding monetary policy and the safety and continuous monitoring of the financial system and solidifies your prominence in the world of economics.

For your notable career in the economic and financial sectors and your time, expertise, advice, and dedication to Michigan State University's success, I am pleased to award you an honorary doctor of human's degree from Michigan State University.

- Congratulations.

(audience applauding) Thank you.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) - [Teresa Woodruff] Wonderful.

Your diploma.

(audience applauding) - Dr. Cook.

Will now address the graduates.

- Go green.

- [Students] Go white.

- Hello, Michigan State University class of 2023, and congratulations to you and your friends and families.

It is wonderful to be back on campus.

The Sparty Statue, Brody Hall, the botanical gardens that dot the campus, the International Center, red Cedar River, the IM West basketball courts, the dairy store, the Will manicured lawns that is Spartan green.

It is also great to be back in Michigan.

The people, the scenery, the cider donuts, the way we can get all four seasons in one day.

(audience laughing) My connection to Michigan actually started long before I arrived at MSU.

I had family who moved up from Georgia during the great migration, when African Americans from across the south headed north in search of a better life.

In total, 6 million people made their way from about 1910 to 1970.

My relative story echoes the promise of a Great America.

They arrived in Detroit with almost nothing, worked hard, studied intently and were successful by any measure.

They won scholarships to parochial schools, became school principals and rose to the executive level at Chrysler.

They even lived next to royalty, Motown royalty that is, both Diana Ross and Mary Wilson of The Supremes, were neighbors who also lived in the Brewster Douglas Housing Project.

I thought of them a lot when I considered what I wanted to say to MSUs class of 2023.

This is a very important moment and I wanted to get it right to do our Spartans and my Michigan roots justice.

It is an honor to be invited to speak at commencement, an incredible terrifying honor.

I would be completely comfortable teaching an economics class.

I don't know that anyone else would be thrilled, but that would be my comfort zone.

But this occasion calls for war, words of wisdom, hard-earned life advice, moments of gravity and levity.

I will let you in on an industry secret.

No one has ever in the pursuit of great oratory said this is a job for an economist.

(audience laughing) In the end, I realized that the most important lessons we have learned were exemplified by my family's history.

Both my biological family and my MSU family.

They embodied the essential characteristics of life lived to its fullest education, community, and hope.

Education, my family's journey from the part of rural Georgia between warm springs and Pine Mountain to Michigan is a source of pride.

Their success was not a given.

It was earned through a lot of hard work, some tenacity and lots of prayer, but their superpower was their undying faith in education.

Education was tentative of faith for my entire family.

My mother integrated her university's faculty by both race and gender and my women and the women in my family, also educators were all in science and math.

That definitely was not the norm in 1960s, Georgia.

My siblings and I would also go on to integrate our pool, nursery school and many other venues.

It was not an easy time, nor was it without pain, but I count myself as extraordinarily lucky because I was taught from birth that education can help overcome the toughest odds.

My curiosity was more than encouraged.

It was lauded so much so that I actually feel sorry for my teachers.

It was entirely possible that my professors formed a support group.

(audience laughing) In undergrad over the winter break, I would revise papers in courses in which I'd already received an A.

At the time I was mastering the subject, I thought I was.

As a professor, I realized I was actually crashing their holiday plans.

During my doctoral program, if you had a PhD and I saw you in the halls of the Berkeley Economics Department, look out.

You were not getting out of there without answering a seven part question with five follow ups every day.

Those educators were incredibly gracious and patient, and they fed my need and deep desire to learn.

Between them and my family, I understood that education is a lifelong pursuit and that it expands beyond the classroom.

We learn each day just by existing in the world, but the truly curious and the truly passionate will actively seek it out.

They open themselves up to new things and walk their own paths.

Michigan State has always encouraged it students to think of education this way.

I saw it in my classes, and I see it in today's graduates who range in age from 19 to 53.

Community.

Community is essential for anyone to thrive.

One of life's great lessons is that few of us do anything entirely on our own, whether it is the people and networks that support us in the day-to-day, or the shoulders of our predecessors that we stand on.

Community is also about the networks and infrastructure that sustain us.

When part of my family made their home in Detroit, they did so in a place of plenty.

They had new access to good jobs that offered a path to a comfortable middle class life.

They live near Eastern market, with fresh affordable produce that stands in stark contrast to so many food deserts decades led later.

Economic success is not limited to financial wealth.

It is a combination of the necessary infrastructure like meaningful work, healthy food, faith and quality housing, that together formed the foundation for our community to thrive.

MSU is the original land grant university and a model of community.

It has a presence in every county in the state and is invested in each of them.

The alarms on the front water crisis would not have rung Were not for MSU.

The soul and the spirit of the institution can be seen from the Ohio border to the very top of the UP.

It is the essence of community.

Hope.

Hope can sometimes be the hardest of the three.

It is easy to feel in times of Pliny, but it is most valuable when it is most elusive.

My Michigan family story is a quintessential Horatio Alger bootstrap tale, but of course that was not the whole story.

They still face discrimination.

Segregation may have been prohibited on paper, but in practice, deeply embedded biases still existed, for instance in the form of redlining, a practice that kept black home ownership out of white neighborhoods.

When they came to visit, it was remarkable to my Detroit family that their southern relatives own their own homes, especially given their professional success my Michigan family had attained.

That was not a small issue.

Home ownership is a principle way.

People form roots in community and build generational wealth.

Things were not fair, but they maintained hope in circumstances that might lead others to throw in the towel.

Hope is on my mind the most for all of you.

You have education and community down pat.

You're Spartans, but you've been through a lot these past four years.

Too much, more than any person, or lifetime should accommodate.

I wish there were a cosmic ledger somewhere that wade burdens and even to score with nothing but smooth sailing from here on out.

If I could wave a magic wand, or rub a magic lamp, or conjure up some vibranium, I would use all of my wishes to make it so.

Well I might ask for a couple of NCAA basketball championships for both men and women, but you know that's another story.

But my first and most fervent wish would be to guarantee you a charmed life.

The turmoil of the past few years will stay with you in big ways and small.

We carry life's injuries with us.

They make us who we are.

But and listen to this, they do not define us, because strength and resilience are measured against the struggles we have overcome.

I look again to my own path and that of my own family and those of my friends, students, colleagues and neighbors, and when we talk about what we have overcome, the struggle for civil rights, the madness of a pandemic, the pain of violence, we should not end our stories there.

That pain is important.

It should be recognized, but it should not be lived in, and it should not define us.

The person you are and the person you will become is formed in part by that experience.

But joy matters more.

Our capacity for joy and kindness and hope are equally informed by our experiences.

Our joy is magnified by the stark relief of the pain we endure.

It is sweeter and more life sustaining and more cherished for its ability to thrive and troubled times our stories, my families, mine, yours are about more than struggle.

They are about joy and resilience.

They are about unique ability to see the bad in the world and live happily and loudly and outrageously and meaningfully anyway.

Live in the joy, have hope.

Michigan State Spartans class of 2023.

You fuel my hope.

You are ambassadors of education and community.

I feel the hope radiating from you today.

You are exceptional and it is the deepest honor and the highest privilege to share in your joy today.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) Okay, I can't get it all the way off, but you see what I'm saying.

Go green.

- [Students] Go white.

(audience applauding) - Thank you so much Dr. Cook for that beautiful presentation and graduates I know you know that Dr. Cook joins a distinguished line of MSU commencement speakers through the years, including US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, former President Harry Truman and future presidents, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

You're in a good lineup.

(audience laughing) (audience applauding) We will now have the privilege of hearing special music by the MSU Wind Symphony under the direction of Dr. Kevin Sedatole.

The selection is, America the beautiful, composed by SA Ward.

(Instrumental music) (Instrumental music continues) (Instrumental music continues) (Instrumental music continues) (Instrumental music continues) (audience applauding) Thank you Dr. Sedatole.

I'd now like to introduce the honorable Dr. Rema Vassar, chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees.

In addition to her role on the board of trustees, Trustee Vassar also serves as professor in the College of Education at Wayne State University.

She earned her doctorate from UCLA and focuses her research on issues of equity, justice, access and inclusion, and education for minoritized communities.

We thank her for her service on the board.

Trustee Vassar will greet the graduates and guests and after Trustee Vassar, interim provost and executive vice President Thomas Jeitschko present members of the platform party.

Thank you, trustee.

- Thank You.

(audience applauding) Thank you Interim President Woodruff.

On behalf of the MSU Board of Trustees, I welcome graduates and your family and friends who join us today.

Under the Michigan Constitution, the board of trustees is the governing body of the university by whose authority degrees are granted.

At this time, I would like to recognize my colleagues on the MSU board who are here with us this afternoon, the Honorable Dianne Byrum, will you please stand.

(audience applauding) The Honorable Dennis Denno.

(audience applauding) And the Honorable Kelly Tebay.

(audience applauding) Thank you for your service.

Today's ceremony represents the culmination of your academic achievement.

The degree that you have earned acknowledges your success and it honors those who have encouraged and supported you in many ways.

I think there are some people who have done some mothering here, so if you are a mother, Happy Mother's Day, this is your weekend as well.

Let's give you a hand.

(audience applauding) Our wish is that you will use your knowledge and understanding.

We need you to improve your communities.

We want you to advance the common good and change our collective lives for the better.

Our faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees are so very proud of you.

We thank you for allowing us to share in this celebration with you today.

Congratulations.

Go green.

- [Students] Go white.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Trustee Vassar.

I join you and Interim President Woodruff.

In congratulating our newest degree recipients.

Graduates, each of you embodies a unique confluence of knowledge.

These scholarly achievements culminate today in the confer of a degree along with the conferral of our great faith, our hope, and our pride in what you will now do with your achievements.

Indeed, as we send you forth, we are counting on you to become the thought leaders, innovators, and doers of the 21st century.

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

(audience applauding) We are honored to welcome a number of the university's leaders who are seated on the platform, but who will not be speaking today.

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

Their presence marks the solemnity and significance of this moment.

Colleagues, please remain standing as you are introduced.

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

Norman J. Beauchamp, executive Vice President for Health Sciences.

Rebecca Barber, vice President for Financial Planning and Analytics.

Bill Beekman, vice President for strategic initiatives.

Jabbar Bennett, vice President and Chief Diversity Officer.

Stefan Fletcher, secretary to the board of trustees.

Vennie Gore, senior Vice President for Student Life and engagement.

Emily Gerkin Guerrant, vice President for Media and Public Information and University spokesperson.

Steven Hanson, vice provost and dean of International Studies and Programs.

Mark Largent, vice provost for Undergraduate Education and dean of undergraduate studies.

Kim Tobin, vice president for University Advancement.

Dave Weatherspoon, vice provost of Enrollment and Academic Strategic Planning.

Kathleen Wilbur, senior vice president for government relations.

Melissa Woo, executive vice president for administration and Chief Information Officer.

Mike Zeig, president's office chief of staff, and Karen Kelly Blake, associate professor, chairperson of the Faculty Senate, MSU Academic Governance and the University mace bearer.

(audience applauding) And now deans of the degree granting colleges.

Please stand and remain standing as you are introduced.

Kelly Millenbah, dean College of Agricultural and Natural Resources.

Dylan AT Miner, dean Residential Colleges in the Arts and Humanities.

Christopher Long, dean College of Arts and Letters, and dean of the Honors College.

Judith Whipple, interim dean Eli Broad College of Business.

Prabu David, dean college of Communications Arts and Sciences.

Emily Bouck, interim Associate dean College of Education.

Leo Kempel, dean College of Engineering.

Cameron G, dean James Madison College.

(audience cheering) Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, dean Lyman Briggs College.

(audience cheering) James Forger, dean College of Music.

(audience cheering) Phillip Duxbury, dean College of Natural Science.

(audience cheering) Leigh Small, dean College of Nursing.

(audience cheering) Andrea Amalfitano, dean College of Osteopathic Medicine.

(audience laughing) And Mary Finn, dean College of Social Science.

(audience cheering) Please join me in applause.

(audience applauding) And now I'm particularly pleased to invite Elyse Baden, to deliver the class of 2023 student address.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) Elyse was selected as the student speaker by the senior class council.

She's a triple major from the College of Arts and Letters and James Madison College.

Please join me in welcoming Elyse to the podium.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) - Good afternoon.

Thank you Interim President Woodruff.

Interim Provost Jeitschko, EVP Beauchamp, board of trustees, vice presidents and deans.

My name is Elyse Baden, and I am honored to be here with you today, my fellow class of 2023 graduates, faculty and staff, friends and family.

Well, Spartans, we did it, for some the time flew and for others it crept by.

Either way, here we are sitting for the last time as MSU undergraduates, ready to rise up from this moment as proud Spartan alumni.

As I stand here today, I can't help but think about my first visit to MSUs beautiful campus.

I was a junior in high school trying to figure out where I wanted to spend four of the most formative years of my life.

I was taken by MSUs academic rigor, passionate school spirit, and the kindness of everyone I encountered.

I was also impressed with the tagline, Spartan's Will, which I saw everywhere I looked, on posters, signs, and even street lamps.

I understood the will in this phrase as a verb and I began imagining everything I wish to do as a MSU student.

I will take exciting classes with world-class faculty.

I will explore my interests by joining clubs.

I will cheer on the Spartans at sports games.

I will enjoy the offerings of the Wharton Center and Broad Art Museum.

I will try the food at every cafeteria on campus and I will resist the urge to feed the squirrels.

And indeed, over the past four years, I have done all of those things and so much more.

Now that I am on the other side of my MSU journey, I'm realizing that there is another meaning of the phrase Barton's will.

In addition to reading will as a verb, we can also understand it as a noun.

Will is our collective resilience and determination, exemplified over and over again by the class of 2023.

When we were sent home in March of 2020, forced to transition to a fully online learning model, we persevered.

Many among us also faced added pressures and responsibilities during the early stages of the pandemic, whether that was serving as a frontline worker, taking on a caregiver role for a relative, or a friend in need, or trying to navigate a new digital world without the proper tools.

We see you and your spar and community appreciates you.

Although it was difficult to be away from our peers and professors, as well as all of the resources offered to us as students on campus, we made the most of our education.

It is because of that determination that we are here today receiving our diplomas.

Yes, it was so wonderful to be able to return to campus as an in-person learning community in the fall of 2021.

While there were still adjustments that needed to be made, we were grateful to come together once again, just as I had envisioned during my first time on this beautiful campus, we spent the latter part of our college experience taking enriching classes, participating in extracurriculars, fervently rooting for our Spartan teams, snapping adorable selfies with squirrels, and enjoying everything else that Michigan State has to offer.

And then just a few months ago, we experienced a horror that nothing could have prepared us for.

Still, despite this terrible and devastating loss, the class of 2023 continued to exhibit our Spartan will.

I'm so proud of how our community came together to support each other.

I'm also grateful to the university and the local community of East Lansing for providing us with resources and support as we tried to figure out how to get up each day and continue going to class even after we survived something that nobody and especially no student should have to experience.

We've all heard the phrase Spartan strong in recent weeks, but I know many of us, myself included, have not always felt strong.

It can be hard to feel strong when it feels like the world is falling apart.

However, the fact that we are here today, graduating is a true testament to our strength.

Spartans will be strong.

Spartans will persevere.

Spartans will adapt.

Spartans will support each other, and Spartans will through our Spartan will.

As we emerge from this weekend's festivities, as Michigan State alumni, we will carry our Spartan will into our futures.

The soon-to-be graduates here today will go on to be the next generation of accountants, artists, chefs, doctors, engineers, historians, journalists, lawyers, nurses, social workers, teachers, veterinarians, and so much more.

For some of us, we know that this graduation ceremony is a stepping stone to continuing our education, for others We are ready to join the workforce and begin our careers.

And for others, well, we don't know what's next and that's okay, because I have no doubt that it will be incredible.

Regardless of what comes after this moment for us as individuals, we will always be bonded as an MSU community by everything that we have experienced here.

I am so proud to be a member of the class of 2023.

And finally I'd like to say go green.

- [Students] Go white.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Elyse.

The senior class council has worked tirelessly in support of the senior class gift campaign.

The presentation of the senior class gift will now be made by Jack Metty and Nicholas Presley.

(audience applauding) - Good afternoon, spring class of 2023.

On behalf of the senior class council and the associated students of Michigan State University, we are thrilled to congratulate you on reaching this incredible milestone.

I am the Senior class Council general Assembly liaison to ASMSU, Nicholas Presley.

- Hi everyone.

And I'm Jack Metty, the senior class president.

We at ASMSU hope that you all take the time that you need to enjoy this beautiful day here on campus and to reflect on and enjoy your experiences here as Spartans.

You have worked hard to get to this point and you should be proud of everything you have accomplished thus far.

- Every year, the senior class council advocates for an organization on campus and encourages our fellow seniors to direct their class gift to that organization.

As we prepare to leave Michigan State and start new chapters of our lives, the senior class council wanted to ensure that we focus our efforts on a fund that creates meaningful change, truly embodies Spartan's will and makes an impact in the lives of our fellow students.

- While you can support any cause that you have deep personal meaning, that has de personal meaning to you, the senior class council has selected one to focus our efforts following the violence that took place on February 13th, our campus was left shaken with a need for community.

Knowing the importance of coming together and the strength that comes from standing united in times of adversity, the senior class council is proud to advocate for donations to the ASMSU Spartan Love Fund, providing financial resources to registered student organizations to purchase the supplies, food or resources they need to hold events.

Giving student organizations the opportunity to bring a sense of community back to campus.

- We are thankful for those who have already donated to the senior class campaign and encourage those who have not to do so soon.

Your support will help create a brighter and more connected future for all Spartans.

From mental health events and community bonding, to celebrating the work of fellow Spartans, leaders across this campus have championed building the Spartan community back and sense of wellbeing back to where it was before.

This fund was created for students by students.

And as we move forward, it is on all Spartans to come together and support one another, embodying the spirit of Spartan's will.

- Our time here at Michigan State University may be ending, but our commitment to this community and dedication to uplift and support others will never waiver.

As advocates of change, we must remember that our work will continue as we leave this campus and enter the larger world.

We are Spartans and we will always stand together.

With that in mind, Nick, the rest of the senior class council and I are proud to award this track to President Woodruff in Michigan State University.

Go green.

- [Students] Go white.

(audience applauding) (audience applauding) - Thank you Jack and Nicholas.

Now we turn to the recognition of our graduates.

We wish to recognize 206 graduating seniors who completed their academic program successfully and have the distinction of maintaining the highest grade point average in the class, thereby meriting the Board of Trustees Award.

To be eligible for this award, a total of 60 or more credits, for the degree must be earned at Michigan State University, with numerical grades by the close of the proceeding semester.

All 206 recipients earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average at the close of fall semester.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) With all of the students, will all of the students recipients of this award who are present today, please stand.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) Each of you should be proud of your outstanding academic record that honors you and your university.

And on behalf of your classmates, the faculty and the officers and trustees of the university, I extend our congratulations and best wishes.

Thank you so much and congratulations.

(audience applauding) Next, I would like to recognize the students who earned major national and international scholarships and fellowships and the Sudler Prize in the arts.

Will those students please rise.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) Please join me in applauding these outstanding seniors for their extraordinary academic achievements and congratulations.

(audience applauding) Students who participate in and fulfill the requirements of the Honors College by completing enrich programs of study are identified as graduating with Honors college distinction.

These graduates wear the white stole with an HC designation.

All students who are graduating as members of the Honors College, please stand and accept our congratulations.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) Students who attain a grade point average of at least 3.95 are awarded University High Honor and University Honor is awarded to students who have earned grade point averages of at least 3.81.

These honors are designated by the gold chord worn with the academic gown.

All students who are graduating with High Honor and with honor, please stand and accept our congratulations.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) I would like to commend those who have worked diligently during the past year representing the senior class.

We congratulate each of you for your outstanding contributions to the class of 2023.

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

(audience applauding) Students who were selected to represent their college by carrying the college banner in both the professional and the recessional, please stand and accept our appreciation and congratulations.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) In recognition of Michigan State's ongoing commitment to study abroad, I ask all graduates who have had an international experience, either as a study abroad student, or as an international student who traveled from around the world to study at MSU to please stand.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) In recognition of our students who served in leadership or service roles.

While here at MSU, I ask all graduates who participated in an organization such as Tower Guard, ASMSU, or any other service organization to please stand.

(audience applauding) Lastly, I would like to thank our sign language interpreters who are with us this afternoon, Amelia (indistinct) and Katie (indistinct) (audience applauding) And I'd also like to thank our live captioner, Suzanne (indistinct).

Thank you.

(audience applauding) - Thank you interim Provost Jeitschko.

We are very proud of the achievements of all of our graduates.

Graduates, your degrees will be conferred at your college commencement ceremonies.

I will miss our time together, the games we attended, the special events we shared, the dinners and random encounters, and the selfies we took.

I will always remember the special comfort of joining as a community to hold one another up.

Now, members, the graduating class of 2023, please rise as you're able.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) I hope that your Michigan State experience has been all that you expected and more, and that you take to heart how the world urgently needs the unique qualities that you have to offer.

President Roosevelt, whose speech I quoted earlier also wrote this, "Knowing what is right doesn't mean much, unless you do what is right."

And so my charge to you class of 2023, is to always do what is right.

And I also want to remind you that a different world cannot be made by indifferent people.

And you, Spartan class of 2023 have demonstrated that you are not indifferent.

My presidential charge to you is to go out and to continue making a difference.

Know that you join a distinguished line of Spartans who have contributed so much to their families, communities, and world in the 162 years since our first class graduated.

I wish you all lives that are joyful, loving, and rewarding, and I charge you now to stay connected to your classmates and to this special place on the banks of the red cedar.

Go green.

- [Students] Go white.

(audience applauding) I now invite everyone to join and singing the first dance of the Alma Mater MSU Shadows, which you'll find in your program.

Following the singing, we request students and guests be seated for the recessional of the platform party.

♪ 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 applauding) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)