“Over the past few weeks, many of you have told me that your experience during that first year at Brown created durable bonds between you, and a strong sense of class identity,” Paxson said. “Perhaps those bonds helped hold this community together during the past difficult eight months.”

Amid a time of such extraordinary geopolitical conflict, Brown, like many colleges and universities, experienced community members engaged in various forms of expression during the weekend, including at the College Ceremony, where noise from a small group of protestors caused brief interruptions. All events proceeded as planned, with many graduates, alumni and guests waving flags, carrying signs or wearing stoles to share their viewpoints.

Paxson said she hoped students’ experiences at Brown — both in the classroom, in their communities and in the midst of such significant global challenges — leave them better equipped to live, and lead, through momentous times certain to come.

“I know that you’re going to great places,” she said. “And I know you will make Brown University proud. I hope you return, again and again, to this place in the years to come.”

‘Hold on to each other, to our love for one another’

Buxbaum, a double concentrator in literary arts and theatre arts and performance studies, reflected on Brown’s values of community and connection, concepts that were reinforced when she studied abroad in Ecuador last year and experienced the role of community in creating social change. In the face of global and societal challenges, from climate change to wars, community connections will remain essential for graduates, she said.

“Engaging with these communities in Ecuador made me appreciate all the community organizing, leadership and energy at Brown that helped us weather the pandemic together, and which continue to define our impact every day,” Buxbaum said. “We cannot heal the many pieces of our hurting world unless we strengthen our bonds with each other first.”

Buxbaum also noted the efforts of classmates who have been engaged in activism this year in the wake of violence in the Middle East. She read an excerpt from a poem, “Red Sea,” by Puerto Rican Jewish poet Aurora Levins Morales, that Buxbaum had recited at a Passover Seder during an encampment on Brown’s campus in April, and called for friendship, love and solidarity.

“When we hold on to each other like this, when we are willing to see each other in all of our humanity, our love will contribute to saving us all,” Buxbaum said.

Noting that the U.S. is confronting “a national epidemic of loneliness,” Buxbaum encouraged her classmates to stay in touch with each other after graduation and carry the spirit of Brown’s close-knit community, lively exchange of ideas and creative energy out into the greater world.

“The Class of 2024’s bold, creative energy is something to be proud of,” Buxbaum said. “We are facing a future full of massive problems… yet I truly believe that through this we must hold on to each other, to our love for one another.”

‘We can never stop walking towards a better life for all of us’

For Mayers, a double concentrator in Africana studies and computer science, they shared the importance of “the people that love us the most, [who] often dream brighter on our behalf” — those who helped propel graduates to the momentous achievement of graduation and supported them past the obstacles, turmoil and self-doubt.

Mayers recalled their childhood and the unwavering support of their mother, who “bought me chemistry sets to play with and books that I would devour,” Mayers said. “More than anything else, though, she showed up for me.” When Mayers’ mother died last year, it was their Brown University community that showed up.

“Friends helped me carry the weight as the world was falling apart around me,” Mayers said. “I put out a call for strength and my friends answered me, my classmates answered me, my faculty, staff and alumni answered me. I needed help to keep moving forward, and the Brown community came to my aid.”

Drawing inspiration from generations of Brown students who have supported each other and the causes they believe in, Mayers recalled the 1968 Black Student Walkout, which spurred a greater commitment to enrolling and supporting Black students at Brown, and noted that “those students utilized their communities and resources to stand up for what they believe in.” Mayers praised their present peers for carrying forward a commitment to activism.

“We can never stop walking towards a better life for all of us, even if some of us have been walking for decades, centuries towards that brighter future,” Mayers said.

Along graduates’ journey through life, beyond the Van Wickle Gates, Mayers called on the Class of 2024 to carry its signature support and connection into the future.

“To my classmates, we aren’t only future doctors, professors, engineers or lawyers — we are artists, innovators, activists and so much more," Mayers said. “We have each other’s backs. We keep pushing ourselves forward.”