On Saturday, May 17, families, friends, faculty, and staff gathered in Alumni Field House to celebrate Commencement with Haverford’s Class of 2025. Under skies that shifted from overcast to dazzling, the College honored the academic accomplishments and resilient spirit of 394 Fords who began their journey in the shadow of a global pandemic and emerged from their academic experiences transformed.
The weekend’s festivities were not limited to Saturday. In the days leading up to Commencement, the College honored the identities that shaped the Class of 2025 with celebrations for Chesick Scholars, international students and their families, students of color, and the College’s LGBTQIA+ community. The cheerful—and sometimes emotional—gatherings reflected the many ways the class supported one another with care and intention.
In delivering his remarks for the Class of 2025, Yehyun Song ’25 proudly named his peers “The Class of Doers.” Recounting their journey from COVID-era uncertainty to embracing their roles as tomorrow’s leaders, Song praised classmates who not only reinvigorated Haverford’s campus life post-pandemic but also created new opportunities, filling the campus with “life, laughter, and love.”
“If there’s one thing the Class of 2025 knows how to do, it is to live and lead in uncertainty. In fact, we’ve spent the last four years doing exactly that,” he said. “We didn’t wait for a perfect moment to get involved. We did what we could, where we were, with what we had.”
Student-selected speaker and Laurie Ann Levin Professor of Comparative Literature Maud McInerney drew on poetry to mark the moment, turning to the works of Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich to illustrate how language and imagination could illuminate the graduates’ path forward.
“Poetry is not a luxury,” McInerney said, quoting Lorde. “It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.” McInerney urged the graduates to stay attuned to beauty, justice, and truth: “Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep thinking.”
During Commencement, the College also continued its tradition of awarding honorary doctorates to individuals whose lives and work exemplify the College’s mission. This year, two Haverfordians were honored: Katrina Spade ’99 and legendary track and cross country coach Tom Donnelly.
Spade, the founder and CEO of Seattle-based Recompose, shared her journey from a Haverford anthropology major to an advocate and leader for compassionate and sustainable death care. She urged graduates to embrace uncertainty, lead with curiosity, and “fight like hell for a liveable planet.” Donnelly, who retired last year after an astounding 49 seasons, offered graduates one last bit of encouragement and coaching: “You’re almost at the finish line—but it’s also the starting line of the next race.”
As Dean of the College and Vice President John McKnight called their names, each graduate made the eagerly anticipated walk across the stage to receive their congratulatory handshake from President Wendy Raymond and revel in the cheers from their classmates, families, and friends. With their tassels turned and their futures already unfolding, the Class of 2025 stepped into the sunlight, ready to carry their Haverford experiences into the wider world.
Photos by Holden Blanco ’17, Dan Z. Johnson, Patrick Montero, and Paola Nogueras.
