Class of 2026 students arrived in Providence in Fall 2022, Paxson noted. While their time began with a joyous march through Brown’s Van Wickle Gates, it was “forged in a furnace of challenges” they could never have predicted in 2022.

“You have navigated a world — and, at times, a campus — that was fractured by pain and divisive conflict,” Paxson said. “And you’ve felt the sharp edges of a political climate that has, at times, made some of you feel like your values and very identities were under attack. And then came December. A day that shattered our sense of peace and took from us two members of our family. I know there were days when the weight of it all may have felt like too much to carry.”

Despite those challenges, the president said the response from students gave reason for hope.

“We saw something remarkable happen in the shadows of those moments,” Paxson said. “We didn't see a community retreat; we saw a community reach out. We saw you show up for one another — across lines of faith, nationality and identity — not because it was easy, but because it was necessary.”

Paxson enumerated moments when students stepped up to support each other and contributed their talents and expertise to the Brown and local communities: Students who organized a “Thank You PVD” concert to support local nonprofits; athletes who inspired classmates through competition; orchestra members who performed at Carnegie Hall; a Main Green flash mob that brought “a sudden, beautiful burst of spontaneous joy.”

“Resilience isn’t just the ability to bounce back; it is the refusal to let go of each other,” she said. “You sustained each other through dark times, yes — but you also reached for the light.”

Paxson told the graduates that while they arrived on campus as strangers, looking for their place at Brown, they leave as family, having earned their place in University history.

“The world needs people who know that community isn’t something you just find, it’s something that you build — sometimes with tired hands and broken hearts,” Paxson said. “It needs people who have seen the worst of a December afternoon and responded with the best of human kindness.”

She concluded with an urge for graduates to remain compassionate, engaged and hopeful.

“Do not let the friction of the last four years turn you into cynical people,” Paxson said. “Let it turn you into courageous people. Carry the memory of the friend who sat with you in dark times, and be that light for someone else. Be the ones who refuse to look away from suffering, and the ones who refuse to give up on the possibility of peace.”

With that advice, the graduates turned their tassels to the left as their bachelor’s degrees were officially conferred.