(instrumental music) (audience cheering and clapping) (instrumental music) (audience cheering and clapping) (instrumental music) - Good morning, everybody.

Woohoo!

My name is Kendra Spence Cheruvelil and I use she/hers pronouns and I am the Dean of Lyman Briggs College.

(audience cheering and clapping) I can't tell you how excited I am to be here today.

Before I begin my remarks, I would like to acknowledge the land on which we live, work, and learn.

Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg, Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Peoples.

In offering this land acknowledgement, I affirm indigenous sovereignty, history and experiences.

Today, we bring together our graduates, along with their families and friends to honor you and your accomplishments.

We gather today while being mindful that our community is still mourning the violence that our community experience on February 13th.

It may feel uncomfortable to celebrate when that occasion remains ever present in our thoughts and feelings.

We are dedicated to supporting everyone who is impacted by this event, including the students who are injured, witnesses to the violence, and families and friends of those who were injured or died.

As we shift to a celebration of your accomplishments, let us pause for a moment of silence to consider how we can live our lives in a way that honors all Spartans, including Brian Frazier, Arielle Anderson, and Alexandria, Alex Verner.

Thank you.

We are here today to bestow the baccalaureate degree on 288 spring and summer graduates in the Lyman Briggs College of 2023.

(audience clapping) That's right.

As I've been reflecting on your time here, it is absolutely amazing what these graduates have faced during their time at MSU, including local, national and global social and political upheaval, the many phases of the ongoing global pandemic and the campus tragedy.

Let us join together here on the banks of the Red Cedar in spring in a season of renewal and fresh beginnings to share stories, to support and care for each other, and to celebrate the resilience, perseverance, and success of our graduates.

As we honor this important moment in the lives of our graduates and their family members, I'd especially like to thank the other Briggs and MSU alumni who are here with us in the audience.

And to the family members and friends who have traveled to be here or who are watching the live stream from afar, welcome and thank you.

(audience clapping) Briggsies, you've come so far.

A few short years ago, you enrolled in Lyman Briggs College full of interest and curiosity about science.

Some of you had grand plans for your life.

Others were unsure about what the future would hold.

Regardless, all of you grew as scientists through your classes and labs and hours and hours of study, research projects, jobs, volunteering, student clubs, and especially friendships.

As a Briggs student, you took foundational science and math and writing courses within our small dedicated college.

Your faculty and advisors knew you by name, but the quintessential college experience changed your second semester with instruction, discussion boards, and even social interactions moving online.

Through your entire second year of remote learning, you rose to the occasion.

We all discovered that our community is not limited to the confines of Holmes Hall or even to the MSU campus.

And as you progressed through your major level courses, you built on the foundational knowledge and network of peers and friends that you developed in your Briggs classes.

And through the Greek alphabet soup of successive covid-19 variant phases and mask mandates, you persevered.

You supported new briggsies as mentors, you helped your fellow students as learning assistants and peer advising assistants, and you gave award-winning research presentations.

Many of you even took on leadership opportunities across this great university.

You leave Lyman Briggs College today empowered with a deeper understanding of scientific fields and how they intersect and a broader perspective of the sciences in their diverse human, social, and global context.

This world needs you, briggsies.

Use your knowledge, your critical thinking, your abilities, your communication skills, your tenacity and your compassion to continue making a difference.

We cannot wait to learn about what you do next.

Once a briggsy, always a briggsy.

Congratulations.

(audience applauding) I now ask that everyone please rise if you are able for the singing of "America, The Beautiful" performed by MSU Jazz Orchestra II, under the direction of Randell Napoleon with soloist Sarah Whitaker.

♪ O beautiful, for spacious skies ♪ ♪ For amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ For purple mountain majesties ♪ ♪ Above the fruited plain ♪ ♪ America, America, God shed his grace on thee ♪ ♪ And crown thy good with brotherhood ♪ ♪ From sea to shining sea ♪ (audience applauding) - Thank you.

You may be seated.

It is now my utmost pleasure to introduce the first Lyman Briggs senior class speaker, Kaitlyn Eberhart.

Kaitlyn is a biology major with a minor in anthropology from Bridgewater, New Jersey.

(audience clapping) - Thank you, Dean Cheruvelil and thank you all for being here today.

Resilient, it's a word that keeps coming up, the word used to describe a graduating class.

When I hear it, I can't help but agree that these past four years haven't been easy on us.

But was it solely about being resilient?

We faced unprecedented events during our time here, events we have only previously read about in history books or seen in news headlines.

None of these tragic moments were in our grand plan while attending college, yet here we are labeled resilient.

As we go off into the real world, I would argue that we're already there.

You are looking at someone who you know nothing about.

Each of us have had struggles, some small, some large and some throughout our whole life.

Mine are less visible.

I was born physically not able to breathe through my nose.

Two surgeries later and I was left with no sense of smell.

Some of you lost this during covid and I haven't been able to smell my entire life, but this heightened my other senses.

This made textures and sounds unbearable at times and of course you can hear how it has affected my speech, and it isn't just the jersey accent.

I didn't realize my speech was different until others pointed out the wrongly spoken syllable, a word or even an entire sentence.

At the end of the day though, both of these are something I've dealt with my whole life.

It's a part of me that I'm proud of and I would never want to change.

It was my first challenge to overcome, leading down that path where I am today, resilient, brave, and strong.

Do you remember when you first arrived at MSU ready for the best years of your life?

Looking back, we were innocent, excited and ready for that adventure.

I knew no one at this school and my first night at college was spent sitting alone crying in my dorm room.

I thought maybe I had made a mistake coming here, that I wouldn't make friends and that I ultimately wouldn't fit in.

Now I may have been a bit over dramatic, but at the time it was the only thing I had.

The next day, I made my first friend and thought that maybe I did belong here.

We all made friends, whether in the chem help room, surviving our first orgo exam together or playing with puppies during finals week.

We found people just like us being brave and strong.

Whether it was during a global pandemic that sent us home or even that tragic night on February 13th that left our hearts broken, we have been determined to make it through the challenge known as our college experience.

Here at Michigan State, I met professors that pushed me to my limits to do my best.

One in particular taught me how to stand up for myself, how to be a leader and how to stand up here in front of you.

After being in his biology class, he saw something in me that I didn't even know I possessed.

Sure, I learned the basics, organization, teamwork and even management skills, but most importantly, I learned to be myself.

As a ULA, I was allowed to work with students, helping them through the complex curriculum while supporting them and guiding them, encouraging them to reach their goals just like others had done for me.

I was able to model for them how to be resilient when the test didn't go as they planned, how to be strong when working in a group and how to be brave when going to class after our safe world was shattered.

College has taught me some valuable lessons, like it doesn't matter if you are the smartest person in the room if you cannot work with a group of your peers.

It doesn't really matter if you missed the top score by one point or slept through your alarm if you get back up and try again.

Our response shapes who we are or will become.

Our experiences have made us brave, made us strong.

We have experienced more real world events than some do in their whole lives.

We haven't been sheltered.

We have faced serious issues and situations.

As we sit here today, we aren't thinking about that missed assignment, but rather we look back and see the people, connections and memories we made.

I hope we can all hold onto this moment, this feeling of belief that everything happens for a reason and that it brought us here today no matter what has happened in the past.

Is the correct word brave, strong, or resilient?

I don't know.

Only you can make that decision.

I do know that we are forever and will be briggsies and we are Spartan strong.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) - I know I learn so much from each and every briggsy's stories.

Thank you so much for that amazing story.

I would like to now introduce and welcome the second Lyman Brigg senior class speaker, Harshna Chahal.

Harshna is from Okemos, Michigan, and is earning a dual degree in neuroscience and human biology with a minor in science, technology, environment and public policy.

(audience applauding) - For the majority of us, MSU has been our home for four years.

For me, it's been 11 years.

Over the summer, my sister and I would tag along with our dad to campus.

And while he tortured his students with engineering lectures, my sister and I would play hide and go seek in the engineering building and dance around in the children's garden.

At the end of the day, we would beg our dad to get us MSU dairy ice cream.

We got a lot of cavities back then.

When it came time to decide which college to go to, I knew right away I would not go to MSU because it was a little too close to home.

Well, you can see now that turned out.

What made me decide to come to MSU was not only the beautiful campus but the fact that we had a college like Lyman Briggs that made me feel a sense of belonging in this big university.

For the members of the audience coming here to support your graduating student, you're probably wondering what Lyman Briggs are like.

MSU will tell you it's a residential college.

Other students will tell you it's like a mini high school within a university.

While other students, well, they'll tell you there's a whole lot of pre-meds there.

For those graduating here tonight that aren't pre-med, I'm so sorry you had to deal with us.

To me and most of my classmates, Briggs has been a second home where all my best friends' classes and favorite dining halls were located within the walls of Holmes Hall.

I still remember freshman year when my friends and I could see who can go the longest without stepping outside of Holmes.

Not to brag, my record was five days.

When thinking about what Lyman Briggs was to us, what immediately came to my mind was the dining hall at Holmes.

That was our hangout spot, where we caught up with our friends between classes and figured out where to go out on Friday nights.

But let's be real, we spent most of our Friday nights holed up in the study room studying for LB-172, our favorite chemistry class By the end of freshman year, our favorite catchphrase was, "That's it, I'm dropping outta Briggs and becoming a business major."

As Briggs students, we made many memories that has pulled us in a bond that was unbreakable, from wearing pajamas to 8:00 AM chem lab, to late night study sessions for our biology classes, to try to find where E5 the physics room was and honestly, trying to understand what this right hand rule our physics professors kept trying to teach us.

I was an undergraduate learning assistant for Briggs Physics for two years and I still have no idea.

There's one memory I distinctly remember.

It was freshman year sitting in my HBS class learning about what a community was with people at the time I never thought would become my best friends.

Being part of a community means supporting and working together to improve and celebrate this place we call home.

More importantly, being part of a community means helping each other through difficult times.

The bonds and memories we have forged with each other these last four years have helped us go through some of the most difficult times in the history of MSU.

But throughout these constant ups and downs, what has stayed consistent was our support and leadership of us voicing for change.

During the pandemic, we were the class that advocated for pass and fail and successfully received it because we understood the hardship that covid-19 inflicted upon us in academics.

And when we heard about the racial violence and discrimination inflicted upon our brothers and sisters, we fought to bring awareness and advocated for the dismantling of unjust laws.

We were the class that not only took it upon ourself to get vaccinated but endorsed medically accurate information on social media because through our Briggs course, we learned and understood what misinformation can do.

During our third year, we mobilized funds and showed support for Ukraine, we protested for women's reproductive rights, advocated for climate action and even mental health days.

However, the most challenging year was this semester when our school went through a mass shooting and we lost three beautiful souls.

We have done so much to rebuild our community and restore this feeling of home again on this campus, by not only advocating for more safety measures, but doing what a community does, being there and supporting one another.

Through all of this, we've not only grown stronger individually but stronger as a community.

Spartans, as we move forward on this journey, I know each of my fellow classmates graduating today will not only uniquely help and serve, but build communities like the ones we built here.

Whether by making new and exciting scientific discoveries or continuing our path of education, I ask of you to not only pursue your passion even when times are tough, but to always advocate for change.

You have not only gained the skillset, but the confidence and courage to be leaders in your fields.

When I look back on my four years here, I hope to not only remember the good, but think about how much we have grown.

I watched my friends and I grow into passionate people, excited to go into the world and make a difference.

And while I will always miss our campus, I'm excited to never experience running late to class again or awkwardly being stuck in the elevator with my freshman year suite mate.

My graduating class, as you step into the world, I hope you will continue to be the strong and ambitious individuals I've seen us be these last four years.

I know we will miss each other, but I hope we can continue and cherish the friendship and community we built here no matter where we are in the world because forever and always we are a Spartan community.

Thank you and go green.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Harshna.

It is now my honor to introduce LBC alum, Dr. Farhan Bhatti.

Dr. Farhan Bhatti is a board certified family physician and is currently the CEO and medical director of Carefree Medical, a non-profit organization serving thousands of low income, underinsured and uninsured adults and children from across metro Lansing.

Dr. Bhatti completed his residency in the Sparrow Family Medicine Program in Lansing.

He graduated from Lyman Briggs College with a degree in physiology and an additional degree in political science from Michigan State University.

He also received his medical degree from the MSU College of Human Medicine.

Dr Bhatti is not content, however, with simply providing direct medical care.

He is a founding member and current board member of the Committee of Protect Healthcare, a national political advocacy organization that promotes universal access to healthcare across America.

He has appeared on television networks such as CNN and MSNBC, and he has testified at Justice Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination hearings as a public health expert.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Bhatti.

(audience applauding) - Thank you.

Congratulations to the Lyman Briggs Class of 2023.

Every commencement speech applauds you for completing the long road you took to get to this point.

Graduation is the prize you have earned after facing and overcoming many barriers.

This is a shining moment for you, your families and everybody who's been rooting for you, from your first teachers to your high school counselors, to your friends and everyone in between.

You endured grueling schedules, heavy class loads, labs, and so many other activities that are intended to enrich you as part of your college experience.

But this graduating class has also gone through an unspeakable tragedy that has left scars, physical and emotional, on us here in East Lansing, and on too many other young people in too many schools and too many communities across America.

For them and for you, this year has been uniquely and devastatingly different.

None of us can forget the events of February 13th.

Even as we celebrate our graduates today, none of us can hide the sadness, the grief, the anger and all the other emotions that you have every right to feel and which will likely stay with us for a very long time.

We see you, we hear you, and we will walk with you for as long as it takes.

I'd like to thank Dean Cheruvelil and all of you in attendance for this opportunity to share a few words with you.

I'd like to thank the families, friends, and all those who have played a role in our graduates' journey to today for cheering them on, for standing with them in sunshine and in rain and for occasionally helping out with the rent.

Believe me, you have no idea how much making rent correlates with acing classes.

To you, the graduates of Lyman Briggs College of 2023, thank you for embodying the spirit of science, of curiosity and wonder, and for living the Spartan spirit of grit and perseverance in the face of profound trial and trauma.

I last spoke to the Lyman Briggs graduates in commencement 2017 as an alumni speaker.

Most, if not all of you, were still in high school.

I had recently finished my residency training in family medicine and I was just getting started with my career as a physician, leading Carefree Medical in Lansing taking care of uninsured and underinsured adults and children.

A lot has happened in your life and mine since 2017.

You are here and I got married and became a dad, welcoming the arrival of my daughter Zanab just over a year ago.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) I have about 5,000 photos I'd love to share, but before I do that, I wanted to share just a few thoughts.

I mention my daughter because she and you are at the heart of my remarks.

Six years ago, I encouraged the graduates who sat in the chairs you sit in today to use science as a shield against what were then new and aggressive attacks on your discipline, on our discipline, the discipline of science.

Thinking back to those remarks, we didn't know it at the time, but 2017 was the watershed of the systematic and institutionalized assault on the facts, on science itself.

And in many ways, the very reality that we as scientists work hard to explore, understand and explain every day to as many people as possible in good faith and with all the information available that we have.

In the six years since, the assault on science has taken many forms, gone through several mutations and has led to devastating consequences.

Let me share a small list.

A bipartisan task force in 2019 found the federal government under the Trump administration suspended standards of impartiality and objectivity for federal agencies who were responsible for gathering and analyzing research and data that's required to make sound public policy.

In 2018 and 2019, the federal government under the Trump administration muzzled, censored and buried data and information on climate change that would've helped us make sound decisions in preparation for greater resiliency and recovery in a whole range of areas, from land management, to agriculture, to conservation and resource stewardship.

Between 2017 and 2020, the federal government was the single most significant obstacle to meaningful reforms on gun safety, by promoting flawed research, false information, fake scapegoats and faulty logic.

None of this is a thought experiment or an academic exercise.

In my field of medicine, the most insidious and dangerous example of anti-science truly blossomed during the covid-19 pandemic when disreputable sources of news and information spread blatantly false information about the virus.

Three years later, we now know much more about covid-19 than we did when it was raging through our communities.

Data, research and evidence tell us that the virus is airborne, highly contagious, able to mutate, fatal for some people, benign for others and capable of causing long-term harm to vital organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys.

We also know what can help protect us against the virus, but data also tells us that even as I say these things, a decent number of people disagree with me.

Despite my experiences and experiences of many medical professionals throughout the pandemic, when we cared for people who couldn't breathe, for people with failing hearts and lungs, for patients who passed away, for survivors who struggle with shortness of breath long after they've apparently recovered.

Despite all this, a large segment of our population continues to doubt doctors and scientists experiences of and expertise in medicine, epidemiology, and public health.

This doubt and denial comes at a steep price.

Had our public health infrastructure been more robust in the first year of the pandemic, had our national leaders been more resilient and vigilant against disinformation and doubt, nearly half a million people might still be alive today, and that's according to "The Lancet", a highly respected, reputable, peer-reviewed medical journal and because of widespread disinformation, nearly one in four Americans now say they have no confidence, zero confidence in medical professionals and scientists.

I hate to be the one to break this news to you guys, but that means one in four Americans have zero confidence in all of you.

With your training, education and expertise, you will be entering the world ready to make change, to improve lives, to move the world, and yet some people, some of the people you hope to help will call you names that should only be reserved for bad drivers.

For doctors serving during the pandemic, we experienced how urging people simply to wear a mask in large gatherings or get a vaccine led to conflict or sometimes even violence, but because this is a commencement speech and all commencement speeches must impart some hope and wisdom, I have this modest suggestion, do not lose your faith in your chosen profession, do not give up, and equally important, if not most important, do not hide.

(audience applauding) Because thanks to the way the world is today, your profession now also requires you whenever appropriate to persuade, push, and move hearts and minds now more than ever.

While you represent science, an antagonist known as anti-science exists in today's world.

When I say anti-science, I don't mean forms of thought that may sometimes appear opposed to science, but that often happily coexist with science.

For example, anti-science does not refer to love or matters of the heart or one's personal faith.

We can experience all of these things without excluding science.

Anti-science is not an alternative method of rigorous and precise investigation, experimentation and verification.

Anti-science is a political attitude that celebrates ignorance.

Anti-science puts noise ahead of knowledge.

Anti-science ultimately aims to invalidate not just the work that you're going to do, but in many respects invalidate you yourselves.

Ironically, the antidote to anti-science may not necessarily be more science.

In fact, studies over the last half century continue to show that empirical evidence does not always change people's minds.

For many people, their beliefs are remarkably resilient against facts, even facts that may seem logically and painfully obvious.

Confirmation bias, belief perseverance, and the backfire effect, just to name a few concepts in psychology, all conspired to sabotage the very thing that we as scientists believe to be our best counter offensive, more information, more numbers, and more proof.

The physicist Max Planck said, "New scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

Instead of waiting that long or instead of wishing death on people who oppose science, I propose that you as scientists join the public town square.

Use what you know not just to spread knowledge but also to inspire.

Henry David Thoreau, America's most truly American philosopher, wrote in "Walden", "Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths while reality is fabulous."

Fabulous in the sense of magical, inspiring stories that can move people, and as a quick aside, in that same essay worth noting is also the fact that Thoreau said he aspired to live like a Spartan, not once but twice.

While data can fight disinformation, it doesn't always move people, not by itself without any context.

Instead, I urge you all to practice using data to tell compelling stories because climate change is as much a story about how the top 2,300 feet of ocean are warming at 1.5 degrees of Fahrenheit since 1901 as it's also a story about disruptions and weather and drought that devastate crops and farm families or about catastrophic flooding that can force families to flee, as we're seeing with more regularity all around the world.

Likewise, artificial intelligence is more than just science, or the science and technology of large language models.

AI is also the story of discovery and deception, who uses which for what and how these affect our neighbors as much as our national security.

For a growing number of doctors, our roles have completely shifted.

Mindful of privacy laws, we're telling stories about our patients' challenges to television cameras and to senators.

Doctors are sharing our experiences about caring for patients who must live with profound traumas of every sort to advocate for mental health resources, for healthcare in underserved communities, and yes, for common sense, reasonable safety measures to promote safety and reduce gun violence.

We can do all this humbly.

We are not infallible.

As scientists, however, we are self-correcting because we deal in observed phenomena, we demand proof, we demand testability and repeatability, we expect refutation and invalidation, and if we're doing our jobs correctly, we respond by pursuing better proof.

You, we, the community of today's scientists must also now respond with better stories rooted in evidence and empathy.

Scientists are now becoming louder advocates for our profession.

We communicate, contribute to policy discussions and we debunk junk science.

The professional landscape you will be entering is also riddled with cultural fault lines, fault lines that you can help bridge by restoring public confidence in the use of legitimate science for medicine, technology and public policy making.

In the six years since the onslaught against science began in full force, more scientists have begun standing with faith and community leaders, policy makers and educators to help remove the stains of pseudoscience with the cleansing light of empiricism by telling more compelling stories.

What I've learned after years of serving as a doctor and speaking out in the public arena is that the overwhelming majority of Americans share a common vision for a common good.

We all want clean drinking water, affordable healthcare, jobs that allow us to raise a family, jobs that anticipate an evolving economy, sustainable energy, and yes, schools and universities that are safe and free from gun violence.

And for many, if not all of you, your expertise and your education in the sciences can inform and influence all of this and so much more.

Our constitution affirms this task that awaits you.

Article I, Section Eight of the US Constitution states, "promoting the progress of science and useful arts".

The role of and reason for science is enshrined in the American soul right next to free speech, the right to vote, protections against unlawful searches and seizures, and yes, the Second Amendment.

Most commencement speakers are expected to impart some wisdom, so I'm gonna keep trying.

The history of science is full of heroes who stood up to the prevailing orthodoxy, who spoke out and debunked myths with the scientific method, providing humankind with course corrections that enabled progress and empowered people.

Galileo and the heliocentric universe, Marie Curie and radioactivity as an atomic property, Charles Darwin and evolutionary biology, Al-Khwarizmi, who gave us the algorithm which touches everything from medicine to automotive production and space travel.

Science is also full of unsung heroes whose work and diligence has added to the wealth of human knowledge.

Some of you may win Nobel Prizes, some of you may become rockstar nerds who bring physics and astronomy into the mainstream, like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye, or before them, Carl Sagan, and before him, Leonardo da Vinci.

And some of you may make great discoveries or pioneer new methods away from the spotlight, like a little known Iraqi scientist named Al-Haytham, who in the 10th century came up with the advice to observe, hypothesize, experiment, revise and repeat, the scientific method that is taught today in middle schools across the world.

Behind every satellite we launch and every webspace telescope, teams of anonymous scientists are working with their heads down, their brains in overdrive and their hearts open to worlds of possibilities, like Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughn and Catherine Johnson, black women who broke ground as human computers at NASA that sent mankind into space.

Scientists open up new worlds, and increasingly these days, scientists can also stop bad choices by standing up and speaking out.

This wasn't always the role that scientists played in society, but it's a role all of us must embrace in order to course correct the decline in public discourse that plagues America and that America is exporting all around the world.

My one-year-old daughter, your children and the world you shape in the years to come are counting on you to do both, stand up and speak out, because every job is social, every career has policy and political dimensions, and every scientific discipline touches a human soul.

I hope that you'll join me in the fight against anti-science and safeguard the integrity of the careers that you all are about to embark on.

Whether the next stop in your journey is a job or starting graduate school, remember that responsible citizens of the world are depending on you to share your compelling stories with the broader community and never grow tired of being a leading voice in public discourse.

I challenge you to keep this promise to science and to our shared humanity.

Thank you and congratulations to the graduating class of 2023.

(audience applauding) - This is where I get to talk about you all.

My name's Niki Rudolph, I'm the Assistant Dean of Student Success and Advising and I use she/her pronouns.

(audience applauding) It is my pleasure to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of this graduating class.

You have demonstrated academic excellence and outstanding leadership during your tenure at MSU.

Your honors are a testament to the incredible work you have invested and the amazing support that brought you here.

MSU'S Honors College is one of the nation's most extensive honors programs serving academically talented students who wish to pursue academic excellence.

Students graduating from the honors college wear a white stole to signify this accomplishment.

Will the students graduating from the honors college please rise if you are able and be recognized?

(audience applauding) You may be seated.

For those of you who are doing a headcount, yeah, that was a lot of them.

The students of Lyman Briggs College are among the most academically distinguished students at Michigan State.

This year, 49% of our graduating class are graduating with honors.

- [Audience] Woo!

- Yeah.

(audience applauding) Students who are in the top seven to 20% of our MSU students in the graduating class are distinguished as graduating with honors.

These students have earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.81 to 3.94.

These students wear gold honors chords.

Will the students graduating with honors please rise if you are able and be recognized?

(audience applauding) You may be seated.

Students in the top 6% of all MSU students in the graduating class are distinguished as graduating with high honors.

These students have earned a cumulative GPA of a 3.95 or higher.

These students also wear the gold honor cord.

Will the students graduating with high honors please rise if you are able and be recognized?

(audience applauding) You may be seated.

Students graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade average across all of their courses at MSU receive the special honor of receiving the Board of Trustees Award.

This is an incredible achievement attained by only 206 students graduating across the entire university.

27 of those students are graduating today from Lyman Briggs College.

Would those students receiving this award please stand if you are able and be recognized?

(audience applauding) Thank you and please be seated.

An essential part of the success of Lyman Briggs is the role that our students play in creating a supportive residential and academic community, both in Briggs and across campus.

Briggs ambassadors help prospective students understand the benefit of being a student in our college, resident assistance and intercultural aids mentor students and help them live and learn on campus.

The Student Advisory Council, LBC Inc., and the peer mentors provide leadership in the college decisions and cultivation of a welcoming community.

Undergraduate learning assistants support faculty, hold study sessions for students, and enable the college to provide a rigorous and demanding curriculum.

Peer support leaders help their peers through workshops, study sessions, advising and social media campaigns, and students who participate in education abroad and away or MSU Athletics help contribute to a vibrant campus.

Would these students please stand if you are able and remain standing as I announce your positions?

Those who have served as Briggs ambassadors, resident assistants, intercultural aids, peer mentors, members of the Student Advisory Council or LBC Inc., undergraduate learning assistants, peer support leaders, participants in education abroad and away and student athletes.

Thank you all.

(audience applauding) You may be seated.

- Hello, my name is Ryan Sweeder and I'm the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs.

(audience cheering) It is my honor to recognize outstanding seniors for the contributions to our residential college community.

These awards recognize students who stand out for academic achievement, leadership and extracurricular involvement.

Each award emphasizes one particular contribution or accomplishment.

The first award is the Lyman Briggs College Academic Excellence Award.

This award is given for outstanding scholastic achievement, contributions to one's field and leadership potential.

This year's award goes to Calista Busch.

(audience applauding) Calista is a member of the Honors College earning a degree in genomics and molecular genetics with an additional major in microbiology and a minor in bioethics.

She's also a Goldwater Scholarship recipient.

(audience applauding) The next award is the F.B.

Dutton Award.

This award is given for outstanding academic achievement, a contribution to science education, and along with active learning in the Briggs community, and this year's award goes to Harsna Chahal.

(audience applauding) Harshna is earning a dual degree in neuroscience and human biology with a minor in science, technology, environment and public policy.

(audience applauding) The final award is the LBC Alumni Association Outstanding Student Award.

This nominee must display exemplary leadership and dedication to the student and alumni activities while earning a high level of academic achievement.

This year's award goes to Lexi Nadolsky.

(audience applauding) Lexi is a member of the Honors College earning a dual degree in genomics and molecular genetics and biology with a minor in bioethics.

(audience applauding) Congratulations to these students on their achievements.

(audience applauding) - We will now present diplomas to the new graduates.

Graduates, once you receive your diploma, we ask you to return to your seats to help celebrate each of your classmates.

Will the graduates please be escorted to the stage to be recognized?

(audience applauding) - Kaitlin Rose Eberhart, Harshna Chahal, Calista Busch, Lexi Reann Nadolsky, Frank Dolecki Jr., Donald Ellis, Emily Morales, Grace Droski, Kimberly McKeand, Olivia Bleicher, Aidan Gard, Baily Ann Bowcutt, May Shen, Paige Bryant, Joshua Marwede, Ishaan Kalin Modi, Zachary Dhaem, Drew Anthony Beckman, Daniel Johnson, Simone Betty-Jean Cleaves, Jacob Kroll, Milena Sinistaj, Christopher Rau, Kaleigh Maxine Rios, Morgan Birthright, Karen Hussein, Jason Reeb, Isabella Mitchell, Kayla Eve Lebster, Gabrielle Zubrzycki, Cailin Griffith, Sydney Sabanski, Brigid Carlson, Shems Hamdan, Lilliane Harrington, Maude Antol, Sara Vella, Rayanna Nashe Dilworth, Leslie Libby Licudine, Nicole Francis Sceglio, Colin Harvey, Aisa Devries, Olivia Moore, Bryce Glupker, Elena Dornton, Juliette Cerny, Gabrielle England, Madison Ford, Katherine Bullock, Gabriel Cretcher, Grace Gareau, Donovan Brown, Natalie Cripps, Marianne Theresa George, Kayla Summer Hussein, Katelyn Barton, Caitlin Kitchen, Benjamin Henley, Michael Hirschenberger, Scott Schneider, Matthew Benivegna, Madison Stevenson, Nicole Millerman, Gracen Minor, Anna Hiju Kim, Amelia Timm, George Casper, Brooke Kerrigan, Sydney Gordon, Talia Koblin, Lauren Gunter, Brieanna McFarren, Madeline Eckerman, Paige Seidell, Rhyann Ashley Schwander, Harmant Grewal, Elison Daher, Mary Grace Farmer, Alexandria Walz, Tushya Mehta, Mason Hughes, Julia Alexandra Matalon, Sarah Okeke, Amy Keyorkgy, Lauren Lambert, Destiny Todd, Yuri Tomkiw, Morgan James, Allison Weems, Grace Bonnema, Sophie Ross, Lauren Elizabeth Hartwig, McKenna Mienaltowski, Johnnae Curry, Vasi Andreopoulos, Hannah Bamgbose, Mitchell Shell, Evan Dyke, Anna Zarka, Dani Hilborn, Nicholas McNabnay, Antwan Green, Kevin Jumaa, Erin Boil Levi, Sabrina Hobson, Jessica Litchfield, Jenna Volinsky, Taylor Stehouwer, Maggie Haite, Alex Sills, Abhigya Khanal, Sara Hasegawa, Kacie Rispler, Ashley Ward, Maya Howard, Sara Latif, Mackenzie Fitzgerald, Kayla Pecktol, Brenna Chetan, Mayher Sachdeva, Madeline Tocco, Katelyn Gerard, Sara Schaden, Claire Williams, Stavros Hedglin, Morganne Narrin, Judith Rector, Max Kuhnert, Connor Kluemper, Jessica Greening, Jade Lim, Kiana Isola, Chloe Tiffin, Savanna Hamed, Emily Bourgeouis, Maja Pietrowicz, Kelsey Coyne, Marionna Karim Bigelow, Charles Martin, Zeeba Ali, Kennedy Mccullers, Elka Boyd, Emma Morsman, Grace Irene Weber, Madison Westhoven, Eve Palazzolo, Ann Kidder, Giovanna Ruffino, Perry Smith, Benjamin Kelly, Dayna Lim, Ethan Arboleras, Rachel Faith Vanduinen, Matthew Schulte, Neha Iska, Henna Haque, Sarah Stewart, Katherine Goult Perry, Carson Clark, Harman Singh, Claire Lanko, Kristen Graham McNeil, Derik Holmberg, Madeline Mae Deeb, Shae Thompson, Ashley DeCock and future leader, Arlow, Natalie Wilcox, Alicia Fu, Lasya Marla, Refig Pala Napam, Sanjana Sahoo, Sneha Rajkumar, Gugen Carmarvet, Rishi Thallapally, Hailey Roberts, Jessica Marilyn Alexander, Thomas Charles, Shannon Taylor, Lindsey Stone, Miranda Isabella Jaberu, Jothi Presad, Alicia Strbik, Abigail Wittkamp, Klea Ahmet, Zubeida Arkoub, Morgan Besant, Emma Claire Proctor, Katherine Ruth Sims, Valerie Medvich, Molly Noelle Nicholson, Kathleen Winifred Zink, Kate Sophia Wiacek, Matthew Hoffman, Michael Shank, Kale Smith, Bronwyn Mave McCoy, Sahana Pathanjeli, Claire Wilusz, Ella Kittmann, Kayley Reynolds, Kyli Denny, Madeline Curtis, Caroline Vandenbrouck, Alisandra Wilson, Isabelle Grace Saucier, Sophie Yonce, Amelie Kraef, Chinasa Okoro, Jessica Scrima-Bailey, Drishti Chauhan, Dalin Roblero, Victoria Braman, Daniel Baldwin, Andrew Rosso, Laura Nicole Hiotaky, Trevor Dalrymple, Evan Benbow, Leah Durst, Kara Gwynn Hunter, Brandon Hall, Carson Keller, David Nolan, Jonas Padilla, Alexandra Schwartz, Jenna Thibodeau, Jaclyn Melasi, Gabrielle Wilkins, Geneva Archer, Alexandra Lewis, Krithika Malahudi, Jasmine Parker, Maya Shaw, Zachary Aaron Kam, Isaac Gollapalli, Madison Keegan, Marisa Digiuseppe, Mikayla Boersma, Katherine Gibbs, Safan Malik, Ryan Mott, Maximilian Rybak, Sabrina Louis Timmerman, Nikhil Chopra, Elise Fitzmaurice, Victoria Jane Potter, Christine Evans, Kendall Hanovan, Hannah Iris Rick, Jorge Adriene Kunza-Pichardo, Emily Pennington, Annamarie Fisher, Kale Haywood, Hunter Lapekes, Katerina Poulos, Ashrith Ankaraju, Molly Hunter, Nicholas Noah Popovsky, Andrew Powell-Fox, Matthew Chung, Kelly Wong, Hibah Siddiqui, George Azar, Mcgona Jadagum, Sushmitha Balraj, Apurva Vayanunda, Pearl Siyanda Kurian, Anu Selva, Ishika Sundar, Vira Mehta, Nandini Koneru, Krishna Koshineri, Girish-Reddy Muthumula, Nam Phan, Kayli Vu, Michelle Powell, Emily Kalinowski, Madeline Christine Gavenda, Akshitha Karthikeyan, Spencer Richardson, Vera Newman, Chloe Grzech, and Ethan Antonio Soave.

(audience applauding) - That was some amazing cheering.

Let's have it one more time.

(audience cheering) Oh, I love it.

The energy in here is just wonderful.

Congratulations to all of you.

Let me take a moment to recognize and thank some of the people who've worked so hard to make this event special for our graduates.

First, I want to thank the Lyman Briggs College staff, who have dedicated many, many hours to coordinating and staffing today's celebration.

Thank you to Ryan Curtis and the Breslin staff, Heather Fink and the University Commencement Office, Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, and MSU Police for their hard work in preparation for today's ceremony.

Thank you to Andrea Kleiver, who provided the captioning for our event, our ASL interpreters, Kathy Chirico and John Stuklis, and to Scott Pohl and Mark Beshore, who read graduate names.

(audience applauding) Lyman Briggs College would not be what it is without the dedication, enthusiasm, and expertise of our faculty and advising team.

These individuals have played an essential role in providing the education, mentoring, and support throughout the years to help these graduates we celebrate today.

Let's share a round of applause as gratitude for their contribution as teachers, advisors, collaborators and mentors.

(audience applauding) Yeah.

Joining us today is another big support, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Mark Largent, thank you for celebrating our briggsies.

Finally, thank you to all of the family and friends and loved ones here today who have supported these amazing briggsies.

(audience applauding) All right.

Now, I ask the class of 2023 from the Lyman Briggs College to please rise if you're able.

On behalf of the interim president who has delegated to her the authority of the state of Michigan vested in the Board of Trustees, I confer all of you the degrees for which you have been recommended with all the rights and distinctions which they entitle you.

According to custom, you may now move your tassel from the right side of the cap to the left.

(audience cheering) Congratulations, MSU alumni.

This act represents the conclusion of a great achievement and marks the beginning of a lifetime of dedicated service.

It is an achievement worthy of celebration, and we are here this afternoon to celebrate the fact that more than 288 individuals have completed the academic program of their choice in the Lyman Briggs College.

(audience applauding) We end our celebration today with a university tradition singing the alma mater, "MSU Shadows".

After singing, we request that your guests and graduates please be seated and remain in their places until after the recessional of the platform party.

Will everyone please stand as you are able for the singing of "MSU Shadows"?

(instrumental music) ♪ MSU, we love thy shadows ♪ ♪ When twilight silence falls ♪ ♪ Flushing deep and softly paling ♪ ♪ Over ivy covered halls ♪ ♪ Beneath the pines we'll gather ♪ ♪ To give our faith so true ♪ ♪ Sing our love for alma mater ♪ ♪ And thy praises MSU ♪ (audience applauding) (instrumental music)