On Friday, May 16, the Class of 2026 had their undergraduate degrees conferred and celebrated at the 156th annual University of Massachusetts Amherst Commencement Ceremony at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
UMass Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor, Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, presided over the ceremony and led with a moment of silence to honor the memory of Emma MacDonald, a former UMass dining staff member, who recently passed.
Following the moment of silence, Abd-El-Khalick continued the ceremony, where he spoke on the rapidly changing perspective and growth that comes with finishing college.
“As you stand ready to again, change your perspective on the world and yourself, W.E.B. Du Bois, for whom our library is named, once said, and I quote, ‘The most important thing to remember is this: to be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become,’” Abd-El-Khalick said.
Once he concluded his speech, the University of Massachusetts President, Martin Meehan, discussed the significance of getting a degree from “a flagship public university recognized among the very best in the country and around the world.”
His speech pointed to the power of universities during a time when data, independent research and science are crucial.
Meehan recognized Josué Emanuel Hernández Escalón, a 2026 graduate who earned his associate’s degree in business from North Shore Community College before transferring to UMass. Escalón began pursuing his degree while still in high school and has paid forward his appreciation for this degree by becoming an Early College Policy Fellow with the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College.
“I just want to tell him how inspired I am by his success and by the success of so many other students like Josué,” Meehan said in his speech.
Following Meehan’s remarks, the student speaker for the Class of 2026, Shhreya Anand, a computer science and mathematics graduate, took the stand.
Student Speaker Shhreya Anand addresses the Class of 2026. (Image courtesy of the UMass website)
Anand was awarded the Undergraduate Academic Achievement Award and the Outstanding Leadership Award. She is president of the UMass Amherst Data Science and Machine Learning Club, is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and was involved in numerous research projects.
In her speech, Anand recalled signing up for as many student organizations as she could as a freshman, the feeling of finally learning how to navigate campus and figuring out the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus routes.
“These four years challenged us by the scale of this place until we grew large enough to match it,” Anand said.
She reminded her fellow classmates of their resilience, potential and to “make sure that your ambition always has a louder voice than your doubt.”
Following Anand’s student address, the President of the UMass Amherst Alumni Association, Michelle-Kim Cohen, presented the recipients of the 21st Century Leader Award to the following students:
- Eva Alexandra Bergloff, a sustainable community development graduate, for advancing campus sustainability and servicing displaced students after the Olympia Place fire.
- Gessica Bonheur, a biomedical engineering graduate, for student advocacy and mentorship and her advancement of oncology research.
- Connor Casey, a finance, physics and individual concentration graduate, for advancing research in quantum science and founding an initiative to make quantum science research accessible to K-12 students.
- Joanne Charland, an interdisciplinary studies graduate, for advocating for students with disabilities, the unhoused and the underprivileged through the Pedal for Youth non-profit.
- Marcos Genao Sánchez, a pre-veterinary science graduate, for leading groups of underserved youth in Puerto Rico and Honduras and building community both through the founding of the Arcane Kavari Chapter of Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity and as a Residential Assistant.
- Danish Humayun, a public health graduate, for research on substance-use treatment access and dedication to others at University Health Services.
- Margaret Nikolay Lepeshkin, an art and design graduate, for merging art, science and environmental stewardship by designing a bird-friendly retrofit for the Studio Arts Building.
- Aaria Prakash, a biochemistry and molecular biology and psychology graduate, for co-founding the non-profit MedConnect.
- Jimena Pueyo-García, a legal studies and political science graduate, for her advocacy toward gender-based inequality and equitable education.
- Charles Elijah Walker-Hoover, an Afro-American studies graduate, for being a Student Government Association senator, President of the UMass NAACP and intern with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
- Marielsa Will McBride, an anthropology graduate, was awarded the Kenneth L. O’Brien Scholarship. McBride was not able to attend commencement as they were representing the UMass Track and Field team at a championship meet.
In addition to the 21st Century Leader awards, Tre’ Allen-Robinson, an electrical engineer and computer engineer graduate, and Andrew Silva, an accounting graduate, were named Jack Welch Scholars by Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Farshid Hajir.
Allen-Robinson was named a Jack Welch Scholar for his contributions to quantum computing and his research and community building within electrical engineering.
Andrew Silva was named a Jack Welch Scholar for translating classroom accounting into real-world service and administering the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistant program for students and local families.
Abd-El-Khalick presented the Distinguished Achievement Award to Andrew Barto, a professor emeritus at the Manning College of Information and Computer Science, for his research and development of artificial intelligence, and to Michael and Theresa Hluchyj for providing 20 years of support to nursing and engineering innovation at UMass.
Two honorary degrees were also presented to individuals upholding the ambition and ideals that define UMass.
An honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering was given to Eric Swanson, Class of 1982, for his contributions to the discovery of optical adherence tomography and his pioneering of advanced technologies such as intersatellite laser communications and high-speed optical networks.
Kimberly S. Budd was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws for her distinguished service to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the first Black woman to serve as the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Budd was the keynote speaker of the commencement ceremony. She highlighted the accomplishments of the graduating class and reflected on the career trajectory that led to her current position as chief justice.
“I have some good news and some bad news, and let me start with the bad news. As hard as you worked to get to this day, your biggest challenges are not behind, they’re ahead of you. But here’s the good news: you’ve already started to develop the resilience that you’ll need to face up to those future challenges,” Budd said.
Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Kimberly S. Budd as the Keynote Speaker. (Image courtesy of the UMass website)
Budd explained that she practiced law for a while after law school but later took a position as an administrator at Harvard Business School to give herself more time with her two sons. As she got older, she thought about returning to legal practice, but Budd didn’t consider a judgeship until she saw that her former classmate, Barack Obama, was running for president.
“When one of your classmates becomes president, you begin to look at your life from a different perspective,” Budd said.
Budd stated that each step she took in her career felt daunting, but that the difficult situations she dealt with in the past gave her the confidence to pursue what she wanted, even if she felt unprepared.
“Now, here’s the important part of my story: I am not special, or if I am, then so are you. Look where you are right now, the possibilities are limitless. When you see an opportunity, one that will force you to stretch, to grow, I hope you’ll think to yourselves, why not?” Budd said.
Budd encouraged the graduating class to pursue greatness, not only for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of the nation and the world, “for the problems that confront us today are great.”
To complete the ceremony, the dean from each college within UMass approached the stand to honor the qualities of their respective students. Meehan followed, officially conferring the Class of 2026’s undergraduate degrees.
“On behalf of the alumni in attendance here today and the more than 300,000 alumni worldwide, we are honored to officially welcome you, the Class of 2026, to the University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni family. Congratulations,” Abd-El-Khalick concluded.
Pearl Davis can be reached at [email protected].
