(As prepared for delivery)

Good afternoon!

Today, you become graduates of the University of Michigan. This day, December 14, 2025, is one that you will always remember.

It is the first day you begin to forget everything you learned in college.

Some overachievers may have already gotten a jump start on this.

But, as Mark Twain quipped, what remains will be your true education.

This is the day you’ve been working toward.

Even if you are a little sad that your college years are coming to a conclusion, you should be proud of your accomplishments.

I also want to acknowledge those who have joined you in your journey.

They have served as your support system.

They offered encouragement, advice, and help when you needed it most.

Please, anyone here who has assisted these graduates to get to where they are today, stand and be recognized.

We must also thank our distinguished faculty and our dedicated staff for their hard work and commitment to providing our students with an unparalleled education.

Graduates, you are among a fortunate minority on this planet to have had the opportunity to study, pursue your passions and earn a college degree.

It’s a worthy undertaking.

What you learned here can never be taken from you.

Your Michigan degree is part of who you are.

Your ability to think creatively and critically, while communicating persuasively, will serve you for the rest of your lives.

It also means you have a responsibility to help others.

To borrow from Horace Mann: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

What you do and how you live impacts those around you in innumerable ways.

When we say Look to Michigan, we are encouraging society to turn to you. You will have the chance to make a positive change in the world, and when that opportunity arrives, seize it.

Remember: to whom much is given, much is expected.

I will leave you with only one piece of advice: develop and nurture a growth mindset … stay curious.

Keep reading and learning, especially about things with which you are unfamiliar.

We do not stop being curious because we grow old; we grow old because we stop being curious.

The Class of 2025 is going to contribute great things to our society.

I am confident that you will take the knowledge and skills you learned here in Ann Arbor and build a better tomorrow.

You will leave today not as students, but as alumni of the University of Michigan.

You are joining the society of learned men and women, and the pantheon of distinguished Michigan alumni — nearly 700,000 strong who have shaped and defined the world in which we live.

I wish you every good fortune and success.

Remember… It is the Victors who write history… so now it is time for you to go forward and write the world’s next chapter.

Congratulations!