Speakers urged graduates to celebrate hope and community at the Multicultural Student Services Center Commencement celebration Thursday at the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre.
More than 100 students, along with their family and friends, attended the ceremony as they were presented cords for their multicultural identities and academic achievements. Speakers told students to “defy the odds” and continue to “fight for progress” when confronting challenges facing racial and ethnic minorities and the queer community.
Sophia Marinez-Tohmi, a program assistant at the MSSC and marketing graduate, said the ceremony celebrated multicultural students’ “perseverance” as they navigate through their journey at GW, a predominantly-white institution.
“You’ve created space and memories where your presence wasn’t always expected,” Marinez-Tohmi said. “You’ve made your voice heard, and you’ve overcome limitations and doubts and through it all, you’ve paved the way for future generations.”
Trinity Williams, a community engagement assistant at the MSSC and international affairs graduate, called on students to have hope for societal and personal progress in the “changing” and “tumultuous” world they live in.
“Hope is always against the odds. And with hope, progress may as well be its present,” Williams said.
Williams encouraged students not to be discouraged by setbacks or challenges in their personal lives or world events because “progress isn’t linear.”
Williams called on students to “open” themselves to learn from others and embrace community-building because there is “nothing” without community. She encouraged students to embrace “radical focus” and fully commit to the goals that they set for themselves.
“No matter where you are, your community here will be with you wherever you are and wherever you end up,” Williams said.
Vanice Antrum, the director of the MSSC, compared the graduates’ journey at GW to the transformation of a butterfly. She said that when students first arrive at GW, they are caterpillars that eventually break out of their cocoons and transform into butterflies when they graduate.
“Maya Angelou says we delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty around graduation,” Antrum said. “We are always quick to celebrate the accomplishments without remembering the journey it took to get to this point.”
Antrum called on students to be “trailblazers” and defy “societal norms and standards” while leading new paths in their future careers for the next generation of students.
“You are all going into the world and the workforce and life at a pivotal time in history,” Antrum said. “Gone are the times of doing things the old-fashioned way, because it doesn’t work like that anymore.”
During the ceremony, Antrum invited students who identify as LGBTQ+ to come on the stage to be presented with a lavender cord to represent their membership in the community. All students walked across the stage at the end of the ceremony to pick up a gold cord, which signified their “meaningful” connection with the MSSC and their academic achievement.
“It’s been a roller coaster with more loops and drops than any of you could have expected,” Antrum said. “But the most important thing is you made it, you pushed through, you held it down, and now it’s time to relish in every moment, every milestone, every ounce of your resilience and the transformation it took to get here.”
