At ΊΪΑΟΙηβs 155th Commencement Ceremony, the Class of 2025 exalted in their achievements together with confidence instilled in them by the community gathered inside the Scot Center on Saturday, May 17, 2025. More than 450 graduates celebrated commencement and the value of their ΊΪΑΟΙη education. In her commencement address, international development leader and alumna Mesky Brhane β89 credited the βliberal arts foundationβ from her ΊΪΑΟΙη education with providing βconfidence to venture beyond comfortable boundariesβ in todayβs world, a theme that resonated throughout the words shared in celebration on Saturday morning.
In her opening remarks, President Anne McCall raised up the Class of 2025 for all they have achieved since joining ΊΪΑΟΙη, emphasizing strengths found at the College by encouraging them to βask questions, imagine possibilities, undertake challenging projects, and generate knowledge!β
President Anne McCall
βI also hope that your time at ΊΪΑΟΙη included experiences of growing mutual respect and friendship in the face of principled disagreements, and that you learned here to listen more attentively, with more open hearts and minds, to othersβ voices, just as you learned to make your own voices heard. We need both to fulfill our Collegeβs mission and societyβs promise,β McCall said.
McCall encouraged the graduates to follow in the footsteps of Brhane, now regional director of the Planet Middle East and North Africa region at World Bank, who she awarded with an honorary Doctor of Laws. In her address, Brhane spoke of her work, answering the question of how her ΊΪΑΟΙη degree in French and English prepared her to address economic challenges through practical approaches, including addressing soil fertility, water infrastructure, and sustainable fisheries.
Mesky Brhane β89
βThe answer lies in what ΊΪΑΟΙη truly taught me,β Brhane said, βnot just subject matter, but adaptability, critical thinking, and the confidence to venture beyond comfortable boundaries. My liberal arts foundation didnβt prepare me for a specific job; it prepared me for any job in a rapidly changing world.β
Brhane recognized the challenges todayβs graduates face in a world called βvolatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous,β and urged them to take confidence in that same ΊΪΑΟΙη education. βYour ΊΪΑΟΙη education has prepared you not for a single path, but for these intersections where innovation happens and where your unique contributions will matter most,β Brhane said. βThe journey ahead may be uncomfortable, so work on getting comfortable with discomfort, knowing that ΊΪΑΟΙη has given you the tools you need to navigate that world.β
The theme of becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable, moving forward with purpose, and drawing from what they learned together emanated throughout the sentiments shared by speakers from this yearβs senior class as well. Sam Peppers β25, a political science major and religious studies minor, had the opportunity to share the invocation for his class this year and emboldened them to consider the tools that now arm them. βMay we remember all the valuable lessons which ΊΪΑΟΙη has taught us, subtle and profound,β he said. ββ¦that discourse and compromise do not undermine our values, and that critical thinking and knowledge themselves are virtues and the cure to the sickness of prejudice.β
-
- Sam Peppers β25
-
- Karmellah Buttler β25
-
- Rayan Dos Passos β25
Physics major and senior speaker Karmellah Buttler β25 added, βAs lifelong learners and independent minds, working together, I hope that you will use your talents and brilliance to intentionally improve the lives of others around you.β Rayan Dos Passos β25, majoring in global & international studies and Spanish, emphasized the others around him who helped him to grow. βLet yourself wonder about these stories, the friendships you built here, and remember how we held each other up, together,β Dos Passos said. βThat as we walk away, we can always count on what we learned from each other because when life tests us, we will show up again, smiling, standing tall, and more important, sharing hope.β
After the class was welcomed to the community of Scots alumni by Chuck Nusbaum β02, president elect of the Alumni Board, the ceremony also featured a benediction from ΊΪΑΟΙη parent and pastor at Mendocino Presbyterian Church, Rev. Matthew Davis Pβ24, Pβ25, and a musical performance by Brianna Swinford β25. A psychology major and music minor, Swinford performed βDefying Gravityβ from the musical and motion picture Wicked accompanied by keyboardist Toni Arnold Shreve. And finally, the Collegeβs Pipe Band led the traditional recession of graduates before they met their families and College community members to continue the celebration.
As graduates marched from Kauke Arch, faculty welcomed them outside Scot Center for their Commencement Ceremony.
ΊΪΑΟΙη wooster.edu/commencement to view a full archived video of the Commencement ceremony and watch for more from the weekendβs events.