'Resilient' Class of 2024 Celebrated at SLU Commencement Ceremony
05/18/2024
For many of 老司机福利网鈥檚 newest alumni, the 2024 Spring Commencement was a chance to experience a proper graduation ceremony.
Four years ago, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, high school graduation ceremonies were dramatically altered or canceled outright. Referred to numerous times throughout the ceremony as 鈥渞esilient,鈥� the Class of 2024 donned their caps and gowns and filed into Chaifetz Arena Saturday for 老司机福利网鈥檚 Spring Commencement.
鈥淚t is an honor to be here with you today,鈥� said 老司机福利网 President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D. 鈥淚 know that many of you undergraduates who joined us in the fall of 2020 did not have a high school graduation ceremony. I am confident that this week has been filled with celebrations that you will treasure. Savor this moment.鈥�
St. Louis native and Emmy-award-winning actor Jon Hamm acknowledged the awkwardness of the pandemic-era graduations and congratulated the nearly 1,600 students packed into Chaifetz Arena on their ability to thrive despite the obstacles.
鈥淵our resilience in the face of continued discomfort and distraction is impressive,鈥� Hamm said.
Hamm joked that he was an odd choice to serve as commencement speaker at SLU. He noted that he is not an alum, having attended the University of Missouri, and has only a 鈥渢enuous鈥� idea of what a Billiken is. He said he jumped at the offer to deliver the address because it came with an honorary degree, but as time drew closer, he wasn鈥檛 sure what his message would be.
Eventually, he found it.
鈥淚t hit me 鈥� I figured it out,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not here to deliver some didactic message about the wonder of education and why SLU is the best of the best and if you all follow these three simple rules, you too can pay off your debts by your mid-thirties. I鈥檓 not here for that, I鈥檓 here because I am a member of this community. And as such, I have insight and wisdom to offer, and maybe even some jokes.鈥�
Hamm said that his membership in communities shaped him as a person. Initially, it was his St. Louis community 鈥� the one that 鈥渘urtured me and provided a place to play and grow and wonder and learn.鈥� Watching the local sports teams allowed him to come together with others, cheer, and celebrate. Later, his communities grew beyond his hometown.
While at Mizzou, Hamm began his foray into acting. He moved to Los Angeles and fell in with other actors 鈥� other people trying to live out their dreams.
鈥淭o become one in a million, actually close to one in 15 million, attempting to wrestle that ridiculous probability into something attainable,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 did it by finding my communities. Whether it was the community formed in the comedy clubs like Largo and M-Bar where for 5 bucks, I could sit in the back and laugh along with like-minded idiots, or the community of waiters and bartenders and restaurant people that I was a member of for a solid decade.鈥�
Hamm encouraged the Class of 2024 to find their communities and, importantly, not seek out only like-minded people.
鈥淔inding the common ground in seemingly uncommon thoughts and ideas reminds us that we are all part of a much larger community than we even thought,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e all have far more in common than we think. We all, at the end of the day, want to do something fulfilling with our lives and find people who will love us through the hard times and the good. These things, these ideas, cut across all kinds of communities. These things unite us. These are the things that we want to explore, and tend to, and celebrate.鈥�
Hamm encouraged the graduates to embrace failure. Failure, he said, is how we ultimately succeed.
鈥淓very bad audition, every double shift, every setback in my life has moved me forward, made me better, and brought me, ultimately, here,鈥� he said. 鈥淚mparting to you that wisdom, I think I figured out, is why I am here.鈥�
Hamm closed his remarks by reminding the graduates that they are now part of a shared community.
鈥淏e proud sons and daughters of St Louis,鈥� he said. 鈥淏e proud of where you鈥檙e from, knowing that it made you. Be at peace with where you are, knowing it's transitory and is leading to something else on the path, but most importantly, be excited for where you鈥檙e going 鈥� the future is endless, it is ripe with possibility, and it is all yours to make of what you wish. With that, welcome to the community.鈥�
Graduates take a selfie as the confetti falls after Commencement on May 18, 2024.
Photo by Sarah Conroy.
While Hamm advocated for finding communities, student speaker Sky Carroll, said her fellow classmates should also find a purpose.
鈥淚 challenge you to remember that you will always be part of something bigger than yourself because you were part of this class and this university,鈥� Carroll said. 鈥淔inding passions and purposes beyond SLU might take time, it might not. And that鈥檚 okay. I encourage you to take a moment to rest in the coming days 鈥� you did the work, you made it here. Take a moment to rest and reminisce. Remember these stories of courage, compassion, and resilience. The future can be scary, but it is so exciting and so bright. I have no doubt that we will all continue to grow as we love fiercely, live fearlessly, and learn for always. We鈥檒l all be loving, living, and learning right alongside one another.鈥�
Carroll, a student graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences, majored in communication and political science. She is a Presidential Scholar who has received several campus honors, including the Office of Alumni Engagement鈥檚 Spirit of the Billiken Award. Like the other speakers, she remembered the dark times of the pandemic.
鈥淚 am here to remind us that we are more than that,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are more than our darkest fears. More than our seemingly insurmountable failures. We are more than a single story. You are more than a single story. We are stories of courage, of compassion, and of resilience. It鈥檚 truly impossible to encapsulate just how extraordinary the class of 2024 is.
Carroll said her fellow students faced challenges from day one with bravery.
鈥淲e were courageous when many of us left the homes we knew to come to a campus where we knew no one 鈥� in the middle of a pandemic. When we took the next step in our research. When we felt called to make SLU鈥檚 mental healthcare fit the needs of its students,鈥� Carroll said. 鈥淲e have constantly pushed one another outside of our comfort zones and to be the best versions of ourselves. I have no doubt that this courage will continue after today.鈥�
During his remarks, Pestello noted that the students didn鈥檛 just survive the pandemic era of life at SLU, they thrived.
鈥淵ou are a generation of unprecedented optimism, creativity and resilience,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ver the last several years, you rose to the demand of unprecedented challenges. I have seen the depths of your work ethic and the breadth of your compassion.鈥�
Pestello encouraged the grads to savor the day.
鈥淚 want you to embrace the joy of this moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淏e proud of the hard work you put in, and the struggles you endured. Have faith in the wisdom you have earned, inside and outside of the classroom. Know that you will be a force for good 鈥� that you will set the world on fire.鈥�
The SLU ceremony kicked off with the traditional carrying of the University mace. This year, the mace bearer was Michael Barber, S.J. Barber came to SLU in 1985 and is a professor of philosophy and former dean of SLU鈥檚 College of Philosophy and Letters and the College of Arts and Sciences. A noted scholar, he has written eight books and more than 100 articles in the general area of phenomenology and the social world.
The ceremony closed with a moment that has become a tradition during Pestello鈥檚 time as president. After the degrees were conferred and the students had officially become graduates, Pestello took to the stage one last time to address the crowd.
Pestello noted that the grads were now part of the Billiken family forever, and confetti streamed down from the Chaifetz Arena rafters.