‘It Starts with You, and It Starts Right Now’
With emotions high during a stirring baccalaureate ceremony, the Class of 2026 is told to move forward with humility and curiosity
White crabapple blossoms fluttered in the soft spring breeze like confetti falling from the trees as the largest graduating class in the College’s history gathered on Miller Lawn to celebrate Colby’s Baccalaureate 2026 on Saturday, May 23.
Families, friends, faculty, and staff cheered the 643 members of the Class of 2026, applauding their achievements and celebrating the milestone. In a ceremony that acknowledged the world’s storms and perils as well as its possibilities, speakers urged graduating seniors to hold on to their foundation of goodness, humility, and curiosity as they leave Mayflower Hill and head into their futures.
As President David A. Greene saluted the graduating seniors, he spoke of the many ways the class has been exceptional and left a positive mark.
“As a collective, this class has been powerful in setting a tone that strengthened our culture and sense of community,” he said. “You’ve enriched our intellectual life and pushed us all to raise our sights. You’re leaving Colby better than you found it—more vibrant, dynamic, and confident in who we are, and how our values should guide us.”
In his remarks, he expressed great appreciation for individual student accomplishments in sports, academics, and the arts. Greene also humorously recalled good-spirited pranks and hijinks, causing laughter to ripple across the lawn as he called out specific pranksters by name. More importantly, however, is the way the Class of 2026 has rejected the current trends of seeking attention by being the loudest and most abrasive, and of seeking power for private gain rather than shared success and well-being, he said.
“The public narrative of today’s college students is often a cruel caricature of students incapable of having hard discussions and facing uncomfortable truths. Of being self-absorbed and superficial, of sowing divisiveness and hatred,” the president said. “From experience, I know that narrative to be false about all of you. I’ve witnessed regular acts of kindness and community, a deep desire to confront hard issues and understand them, a willingness to change your minds and open your hearts.”
Advice for weathering life’s storms
The Hon. Esther Salas, a trailblazing federal judge who has turned personal tragedy into a purpose-driven mission, delivered the baccalaureate address. Salas, who received the Morton A. Brody Distinguished Judicial Service Award from Colby in 2024, has served as a United States district judge for the District of New Jersey since 2011.
In 2020, a disgruntled attorney targeted her home, shooting and killing her 20-year-old son, Daniel Anderl, and severely wounding her husband. In the aftermath of the attack, she became a prominent advocate for judicial security, ultimately leading to the passage of the federal Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act.
In searing, emotional remarks, Salas recounted the events of July 19, 2020—the day her world changed forever—and what happened afterward. She talked about the close relationship she had with her son, a college student who had turned 20 just days before he was murdered, and about what she learned about the importance of true forgiveness.
“That day’s unsuspecting calamity hit our family out of nowhere,” she said. “I’m not going to lie: I lost the will to live that day. A light within me, it just extinguished.”
The day after the shooting, with her son dead and her husband fighting for his life, the walls of Salas’s life seemed to have crashed down. Then something happened that felt miraculous.
“I felt what I have described as a gentle nudge from above, and I sensed a flickering of light inside of me that dimly turned back on,” Salas said. “And it was at that moment that I began a spiritual journey, a quest to discover my true self.”
The journey forced her to rethink everything she thought she knew about life and death. Things that seemed important before the attack became as insignificant as rubble afterward.
“The person who stands here today is far less concerned about me and much more focused on we,” she said. “The funny thing about my disaster is that it forced me to start building a new and stronger foundation.”
She urged the Class of 2026 to enjoy their lives, to stay in the present, and to keep setbacks and failures in perspective.
“It is all a matter of how you choose to see and live through those challenges that will determine your happiness,” she said. “Each of you will be called upon to weather Category 5 storm-like conditions in your lives, and you will be tested undoubtedly. How will you react when the thunder rolls in?”
Salas, whose words were met with a standing ovation from the audience, said it is her sincere hope that people will learn to live by the Golden Rule: doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.
“It starts with us, graduates. It starts with you, and it starts right now,” she said. “Each of us must decide to be impeccable with our words while continuing to advocate for our positions. … There is far too much hate, negativity, and darkness in the world at the moment. We need to return to love. Love for all humanity, love for this planet, and love for this thing called life.”
Kindness is the foundation of Colby
Love and kindness were themes of the day. Elian Joseph ’26, the vice president of the student body and a double major in economics and Latin American studies, spoke eloquently about what makes Colby different. Years ago, he read a letter the Apostle Paul sent to the Church of Philippi in the first century. In it, Paul wrote that people should do nothing out of selfish ambition, but rather, in humility, value others above themselves.
“I spent the majority of my adolescent life believing that people who lived by this school of thought did not exist,” Joseph said. “And then I came here.”
At Colby, he was amazed by the kindness and selflessness shown by his peers.
“To everyone here, thank you,” he said. “If we have crossed paths, please know that it was your kindness that was and is the foundation of the Colby that I call home. And even if we have not crossed paths, I know that it was your influence that led to that kindness flowing onto me.”
A beloved member of the campus community returned to Mayflower Hill to give a baccalaureate reading. Former provost Margaret McFadden, the NEH/Class of 1940 Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, Emerita, read from a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. that resonates powerfully in our current historical moment.
“What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic,” she read. “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”
Class Marshal Sophie Shanae Gould Dulabaum ’26, a biology and music double major, gave a reading from Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene by Donna Haraway.
“Our task is to make trouble, to stir up potent response to devastating events, as well as to settle troubled waters and rebuild quiet places,” Dulabaum read. “Staying with the trouble requires learning to be truly present, not as a vanishing pivot between awful or Edenic pasts, and apocalyptic or salvific futures, but as mortal critters entwined in myriad unfinished configurations of places, times, matters, and meanings.”
Music and a goodbye charge
Student musical performances added joy and lightness to a ceremony that opened and closed with the irresistible Latin beats of Primo Cubano.
Hunter McKendry ’26, an environmental science and music double major, and Henry Olson ’27, a computer science and music double major, sang and played guitar together to an emotional rendition of the song “Snowshoes” by Caamp.
Aleksandra Avramenko ’26, a computational biology and music double major; Kathryne Clay ’26, a music and biology double major; David Tawiah ’27, a biology and music double major; Joshua Zhang ’26, a computer science and music double major; and Drum Instructor RJ Miller performed a lively, swinging rendition of the song “There Will Never Be Another You” by Henry Warren.
And Maura McGraw ’26, an economics major, and Owen Field ’27, an English and music double major, performed a poignant “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Finally, Associate Professor of Art Bradley Borthwick, a sculptor, gave apropos closing remarks to the Class of 2026.
“The big block of marble in front of you, the state of the world, is daunting, yet unbound. Don’t let the daily soundtrack distract you from where to strike the chisel first. This metaphorical block is not an obstacle to your becoming. It is the only material that your becoming has been given,” he said. “My charge to you, therefore, is simple and physical: pick up the chisel. This ability to begin anew, to engage, to lean in and shape something from the obstacle itself is one that you have already begun to practice at Colby.”
Colby’s 205th Commencement begins at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 24, on Miller Lawn, with seniors and invited guests. Mo Willems, award-winning author, illustrator, and animator of beloved, witty children’s books, will deliver the commencement address.
During commencement, Colby will confer honorary degrees on Salas; Dr. Melissa Gilliam, president of Boston University and an acclaimed scientist; and Nathanial Fick, inaugural U.S. ambassador at large for the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy.
