(University of Dayton President Eric Spina offered these remarks to graduating seniors at the 2026 spring commencement ceremonies.)
Good morning, CLASS OF 2026!! Today is a GREAT DAY — and it is the first day of your life as ... a University of Dayton alum!
Congratulations to each and every one of you! Now … take a deep breath. Pause. Exhale. And let the realization of this moment wash over you. You Did It! You are GRADUATING from the University of Dayton!
I offer a special welcome to all of our families, particularly those who traveled far — especially those from other countries — to share this moment. I can feel your happiness, your pride, and yes, even a little bit of relief. This day is finally here! This is a day you’ll always remember and cherish.
And to all the mothers with us today — and especially the mothers of the graduates — Happy Mother’s Day! What wonderful, lifelong gifts your child is giving you today: a college diploma and a memory of a lifetime!
Graduates, will you please rise, face your mother and other family members and friends, and give them a rousing round of applause for their support and love that made this day possible!
Some of you are first-generation college graduates — the first in your family lineage to earn a college degree. You personify the American dream, and you will continue to open doors of opportunity — not just for yourselves, but for future generations of your family. Because you make us stronger, it is important — to our University and our nation — that you succeeded, and we pledge to continue making opportunities available for first-generation college students like you. We’re so proud of you AND so proud of the family members who worked hard to enable your dream — and theirs — to come true.
Will all of today’s first-generation college graduates please stand for a special round of applause for them and their proud families! (Pause)
I invite all graduating service members, student veterans, and newly commissioned ROTC cadets — Air Force ROTC last Sunday, and Army ROTC just yesterday — to stand and be recognized for your service and leadership. Thank you for your selfless service to our country and the ideals on which it was founded.
Members of the faculty and staff: Thank you for creating an environment that has allowed these about-to-be graduates to stretch themselves academically, to dream big, to dare to be great. You have prepared them to use their education and faith to make a difference — a real difference — in a world hungry for their community-building skills and innovative thinking.
It’s always a challenge to find the right words to share at commencement. Commencement speakers, including me, strive to touch the heart and soul with words that will matter to you, the graduates, at this pivotal point in your young lives as you enter a world in need of empathy, healing, and unity.
This year in which you are graduating is a remarkable one.
It is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of our great nation by individuals who acted on a collective dream and forged it into the freedoms that we hold dear and work hard to safeguard every day. And this academic year has been the anniversary of the founding of the University of Dayton, 175 years ago, by three brothers from the Society of Mary who believed education could deepen faith, change lives, and build communities.
We know that UD graduates over the past 175 years have contributed mightily to the success of our nation: in public service, by building up their communities, through business ownership and the employment of people who supported their families, by protecting our country in the armed services, through joining and strengthening faith communities of many religions, and in many more ways.
But these twin anniversaries invite a different question — not about the past, but about you:
What does it mean to step forward at a moment like this?
First, let me assure you that you are ready for your moment in history.
In your years at the University of Dayton, faculty and staff have shared with you their expertise and pushed you to develop your own knowledge, discern your vocations, forge your paths into the future. Sitting among you today are engineers, teachers, artists, accountants, mathematicians, communicators and many more. You will take what you’ve learned in and out of the classroom and build lives for yourselves and value for those with whom you work.
But you have done more than simply gain core knowledge and learn tangible skills. You have been educated in the family spirit by those who believe in the power of a Marianist education. You have grown in your own faith and in the understanding of the faith of those around you. You have learned that leadership is about how we connect with others. You have discovered the value in our differences and recognize they make us stronger, individually and collectively. You have come to understand how intentionally the Marianists cultivate the feeling of home on campus. They have prepared us to engage in a complex, sometimes inequitable, and too divided country in ways that will make us better and further the common good.
So, how will you seize this moment? What contributions will you make?
I know of four distinct ways your education will allow you to make a difference:
First, you will — indeed, you must — step forward and build community in a time of upheaval.
At the founding of our nation, despite deep differences in class, religion and nationality, people of the colonies united under the flag of freedom.
Today, the upheaval we experience comes from many causes, from systemic societal divisions to economic uncertainty, from technological disruption to the chaos of natural disasters, from longstanding racial animosity to the trauma of poverty. No matter the cause, you have learned in your time at UD that community is a foundational, lived experience through which great work can be accomplished together. We build community one authentic relationship at a time, welcoming people of varied talents and lived experiences and identities into relationships based on faith, equality, and shared mission. You take forward with you from here the lessons of the Marianists, who demonstrate that living, praying, and supporting one another in community strengthens our ability to meet the challenges of our time and our world.
Second, you will — indeed, you must — step forward and sow truth in a time of confusion.
Just having completed your final exams, you may think truth is found in having the right answer on the test or a conclusive result in a lab experiment. In reality, the pursuit of truth can be a messy, uncertain business that tests our knowledge as much as our confidence. It begins with ensuring you obtain information from diverse sources and multiple directions: Don’t be a single-channel consumer of information; test what you believe by engaging with people who think differently than you. Truth is a communal pursuit, the Marianists teach us, attained by integrating faith and reason. In a world that often seems confused at best, and in its darkest times at odds with the lessons of the Gospel, seeking and sowing truth will provide a beacon for you and those with whom you collaborate to create momentum toward a shared future.
Third, you will — indeed, you must — step forward and cultivate belonging in a time of division.
Your UD education has taught you to act with moral courage and with a deep respect for the dignity of every person — including those who look different from you and those who see the world differently than you do. Belonging is a state where all people feel safe, loved, and valued for the unique gifts they bring into our world. It is a goal we strive for on campus. Belonging is also our hope for you as you enter the next chapters of your lives. As a Flyer, you have been given the tools to heal a divided world by connecting with, accepting, and supporting those around you no matter how alike or different from you they are.
Finally, you will — indeed, you must — step forward and model hope in a time of uncertainty.
175 years ago, our founders from the Society of Mary modeled hope as they pursued future good through faith and education. It was a highly uncertain time — in fact, the Marianists had only a medal of St. Joseph and a promise of payment to offer for the land on which they hoped to build their school. They persevered through fires, flood, and attacks by the Klu Klux Klan. In our times, uncertainty takes on different forms but can at times look just as scary. In those moments, remember the seed of hope that was planted on your behalf. You — and every other Flyer graduate before you — are the light they envisioned sending out into the world. Take that light with you as you embark on the journey into the rest of your lives.
This is what I ask of you in this year of great celebrations. This is what your Catholic and Marianist alma mater asks of you:
- Build community in a time of upheaval.
- Sow truth in a time of confusion.
- Cultivate belonging in a time of division.
- And model hope in a time of uncertainty.
I offer one additional reflection on the state of the world at this moment and your readiness to make a difference that matters. Pope Leo has called on all people of goodwill to work for peace — to reject war and violence, and to seek answers grounded in a culture of love rather than hate and division. In doing so, he models the path of reconciliation Jesus asks us to pursue: to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
What I have asked of you today — to build community, seek truth, cultivate belonging, and model hope — will guide you in your daily lives. Together, these are powerful forces as we work toward peace, justice, and the common good. This is what the world needs from you — and you are ready.
I’d like you to take a moment to think about someone sitting among you.
Someone who arrived here unsure if they truly belonged.
Someone who struggled at times and wondered if they would make it to this day.
Someone who found their footing not all at once, but step by step … through a professor who believed in them, a friend who stood by them, a community that would not let them walk alone.
Along the way, that person began to understand something important.
What it means to be part of a community.
How belonging is created — and why it matters.
And how hope can carry you forward, even in uncertain moments.
That person is not just one graduate.
That person is many of you.
And today, as you walk out of UD Arena and into the rest of your lives, you will take with you these moments that have shaped you. You will remember the smile on the face of your buddy during Christmas on Campus. The friendship solidified during a long porch chat. The leadership skills strengthened in clubs. The failures that made you stronger. The successes you shared with others. As the Marianists have taught us, and as we have learned together, our greatest strength will always be found in community.
For more than 175 years, this university has formed people who quietly — and sometimes boldly — help shape communities locally, nationally, and globally. Now, at this moment, it is your turn.
As your president — and as a representative of the UD faculty, staff, vowed religious, board of trustees, and all of Flyer Nation — I salute you and your accomplishments. Please know that the University of Dayton will always be your home, and you will always be welcome here.
Congratulations, Class of 2026! May God bless you and keep you in his grace.
Go, Flyers!
(photos by Sylvia Stahl ’18)
