Wheaton News

Wheaton graduates encouraged to be resilient and optimistic in the face of challenging times

Wheaton celebrated its 190th Commencement on Saturday, May 17, 2025, with a ceremony that emphasized the power of education as a constructive force in the lives of individuals and an essential ingredient to a healthy society.

The graduation ceremony took place on Wheaton’s central quadrangle, known as the Dimple, with the 379 members of the Class of 2025 surrounded by their family and friends, more than 300 alumni celebrating reunion and the college’s faculty and staff.

Wheaton College President Michaele Whelan acknowledged the uncertain economic and political environment into which the seniors are graduating, but urged them to “choose the discipline of hope over the ease of cynicism,” quoting activist and educator Brittney Packnett Smith.

“You are exactly what our world needs,” she said. “The values that are foundational to our campus and to higher education—listening with curiosity and empathy, analyzing ideas rather than dismissing others, reaching across differences and searching for common ground—are the very qualities needed for a healthy democracy.

“Live abundantly, be compassionate and kind, remember your connections to each other, to your faculty, and to this special place,” she said.

Jema Espinosa, the chair of the graduating class, also emphasized the importance of sustaining connections to the college and to each other. “Lean on your community. Everybody needs somebody, she said. “It’s often scary out in the world, but I believe we can make a difference,” said the New York City resident who majored in sociology and graduated with honors.

After receiving an honorary Doctor of Science, MIT professor Kirk Kolenbrander, a former Wheaton trustee and senior advisor to three MIT presidents, echoed President Whelan in referencing the college’s motto (“That they may have life, and may have it abundantly”) while calling upon the students to apply their education to the challenges they will face.

“Abundant curiosity calls for courage — the courage to keep asking questions when no easy answers appear, to risk being wrong, to risk changing your mind,” Kolenbrander said. “True curiosity isn’t safe; it’s brave. When you follow your deepest questions—about what matters, what lasts, and what you can give—you don’t just make a living. You build a life with meaning.”

Internationally renowned architect Toshiko Mori, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, drew on her experiences growing up in post-World War II Japan “as a kid playing in the ruins of a devastated country” to reflect on the importance of community.

“Despite the hardship, our community refused to let us feel deprived. We overcame scarcity because we replenished what we did not have with creativity and wisdom,” she said. “Compassion is what drives civilization forward to a better future. It is the essence of our humanity and the thread that binds our constellations together.”

In recent years, Mori said, “each time I have addressed graduates, it appeared that each class faced newer and greater challenges. But in my opinion, 2025 … it tops them all.

“Class of 2025, you are heading into a perfect storm! But do not be fearful, instead be courageous and follow your north star,” Mori said. “This is a time of immense opportunity. The world urgently needs your help to heal and survive. Let your inner compass guide you and light the way for others.”

Picking up on the theme of being courageous, Amelia Parnell, the president of NASPA, the national association of student affairs administrators, counseled the graduates to welcome opportunities when they arise, after receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters.

“I hope that when you encounter a new opportunity, you’ll embrace the idea that you should try it. You might like it,” she said. “That new city to live in, that new clothing style, that hobby that interests you, that job you’re drawn to—it just might be the next good thing for you.”

“It’s totally ok for something you try to not go well or to go well until it doesn’t,” Parnell said. “That just means it’s time to move on and try the next thing.”