Speakers urged graduates to embrace future challenges they may face as opportunities for growth at the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences’ two graduation ceremonies for over 1,200 graduates in the Smith Center on Saturday.

Reena Ninan, a 2001 GW alum, the founder of media company Good Trouble Productions and former television journalist, gave the keynote address during both ceremonies and said CCAS graduates will succeed in a world where artificial intelligence technologies are expanding because their education has equipped them with the ability to “know what matters.” Other speakers also encouraged CCAS students to rely on one another for connection, spend time engaging in creative pursuits and view challenges as obstacles they can overcome and grow from.

Ninan said graduates are earning their degrees at a time when many people are questioning the value of college degrees as AI is rapidly advancing, but said getting a degree is even more relevant as the era of AI necessitates strong human judgment and critical thinking. She said decision-making and critical thinking are crucial skills that CCAS students will need to rely on after graduation, especially since AI can generate information, but it doesn’t know “what matters.”

“In a world where information is everywhere, your judgement becomes the advantage,” Ninan said. “This is what your education gave you. It’s not just knowledge but the ability to think critically, decide wisely, move through uncertainty without waiting for a prompt to tell you what to do.”

Both ceremonies included demonstrations from pro-Palestinian students, including a student holding up a Palestinian flag overlaid with what appeared to be the tree from the Lebanese flag, before they walked off stage at the first ceremony. During the second ceremony, two students were met with cheers from the crowd as they held up a Palestinian flags when they walked across the stage.

Danny Hayes, the faculty speaker at the first ceremony and a professor of political science, said his battle with rectal cancer strengthened the relationships in his life because he came to see how much his family and friends sacrificed to help him during his illness and recovery. Hayes compared his battle with cancer to the future challenges that GW graduates may face, like romantic rejection or not being accepted to a graduate program, as they go out into the world, which he said will help to make them stronger individuals.

“As you get ready to depart Foggy Bottom, the reality is that in the coming years, maybe even the coming months, you’ll experience a profound disappointment or suffer through a difficult time,” he said.

Hayes said it was natural human instinct to face his challenges with fear and try to avoid them but said they often end up being sources of confidence. He said by graduating from GW, students have already proven they can “endure, adapt and grow” from the challenges they face. 

“People think winning the lottery will make them happy, but it often makes them miserable,” Hayes said. “People think a personal tragedy will ruin their life, but it sometimes does the opposite. In the years to come, you will face trials of your own, but this does not have to be a source of despair or fear.”

John Parel, a psychological and brain science graduate and the first ceremony’s student speaker, said the educational rigor of CCAS and GW made him and fellow students be the best versions of themselves by pushing them to think more deeply, work harder and grow through academic and personal challenges.

“CCAS challenged us in ways that were occasionally infuriating, humbling but ultimately invaluable,” Parel said. “The professors who pushed back when we were wrong, the classes that made you question your major, your direction, your entire plans, the friendships forged in libraries and dining halls and group chats that are somehow still going.”

John Philbeck, the CCAS vice dean of faculty affairs, presented the Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses at the first ceremony to Sharon Roosevelt, a teaching assistant professor of mathematics. Evangeline Downie, the CCAS associate dean of research, presented the Columbian Prize for Teaching and Mentoring Advanced Undergraduate Students at the second ceremony to Assistant Professor of Dance Anna Jayne Kimmel.

Olivia Nippe-Jeakins, an astronomy and astrophysics student and student speaker at the second ceremony, said CCAS students were united by the unique experience of living in D.C. and attending GW like study sessions in Gelman Library or rushing to class after being held up by a motorcade. She said the commencement was a celebration of what the future holds for graduates and that they are ready for whatever paths they choose because they are Revolutionaries. 

“Today is both a celebration and a beginning as we step forward into new opportunities, uncertainties and possibilities, we carry with us the knowledge, resilience and curiosity that brought us here in the first place,” Nippe-Jieakins said. “Whatever paths we choose, we are ready because we are Revolutionaries.”

The faculty speaker at the second ceremony, Robert Baker, an associate professor of music and the director of performance studies, said graduates will feel “the post-show blues,” a feeling that theater actors get at the end of their shows, because once they are no longer with their “cohort” at GW, students may begin to question whether their experience mattered. 

“Of course, what you have experienced and accomplished over the past four years matters, but when you are no longer with your cohort, it can become a mirage, a dream that you’re not sure all the strong things that you experience really matter,” Baker said.

Baker, who is a singer, said the creative arts provide physical and mental health-related benefits for those who engage with them and encouraged graduates not to abandon their “creative” selves after graduating from GW.

“​​As you make your way to what is next, please celebrate now, and know that what you have accomplished matters,” Baker said. “It is not a mirage, and please be intentional about nurturing the creative, artful, beautiful human being that you are.”

Baker ended his speech by singing the Queen song “We Are the Champions” along with the audience.

Lakshmi Dev contributed reporting.