Below is the text of Chancellor Melissa Nobles' Commencement remarks, as prepared for delivery today.
Thank you, Phoebe and William!
Ok everyone! It's happening! It's your graduation day! Congratulations to you, soon to be graduates, and congratulations to your loved ones! What a day!
To the class of 2024: You are here today, graduating from MIT on beautiful Killian court, thanks in part to the many people who believed in you, who championed you, who boosted you when you needed it.
Many of your loved ones are here with us today, and others around the globe are beaming with happiness as they watch this ceremony online. So, soak up the love and pride of your families and friends and champions here and afar…. It’s a very special day for them, too.
THANK YOU parents, thank you families, thank you friends, thank you to the professors and staff here at MIT, and thank you to everyone who has helped shape our graduates’ journeys to this day.
Now, let's talk about YOU, the graduates of 2024!
Yes, you started at MIT during Covid, and don't worry, we won't dwell on that.
What I do want to highlight is that because the world turned upside down, because you didn't know the "typical rhythms" of MIT and the upper classes couldn't show you all the ropes, you did what MIT students do best — and you did it in overdrive:
You made stuff up. You figured things out. You experimented. You iterated. You engineered. You stretched. You created new traditions. You bonded. You used your heart, and built your communities — first online, and later on campus — because connections to people never felt more important.
And I'm not trying to glamorize this. Surely, starting from scratch can be daunting, rocky, inefficient, exhausting… and filled with dead ends.
But it also creates possibility, which you filled with creativity, strength, persistence, and resilience. And, as a consequence, you built a COMPLETE and fulfilling college experience.
So as you wrap things up, take a moment to pause and be present. Look around you at your classmates, strangers who met on Zoom and became tight friends under tough circumstances.
Think back to the fall of your sophomore year, when things literally opened up on campus and you too opened yourselves up, wholeheartedly, to your fellow students.
What wild adventures you had as sophomores — getting to know each other — and drinking from MIT’s famed firehose — together… I-R-L!
And feel proud of the care you have shown to the classes who follow in your footsteps, by passing along the institutional knowledge that you painstakingly unearthed, that you created and refined, so that future students don’t need to start from scratch as you did.
Think about your houses, your clubs, your mentors inside and outside the classroom, your teams, your performances, your research, your coursework, and your creations.
Think about the intellectual curiosity that you arrived with, plus all that you learned since, and how your passions and ambitions led you to even more complex discoveries.
Remember all the psets you completed and will NEVER NEED TO DO AGAIN!
While you'll soon leave behind your beloved maker spaces and favorite hang out spots and the practice fields where you gave things your all, you'll bring your problem solving skills, your ingenuity, your passions, and your drive to new spaces… new spots… and new fields.
You'll forge new friendships while staying in touch with your MIT besties.
You'll buy bananas at the grocery store and reminisce about when you'd get them for free 24/7 at the Banana Lounge, back in the day.
You'll trek through the unknown with an adventurous and generous spirit. You'll ask for help when you need it, and you’ll continue to inspire and give to others that follow.
And above all, you'll be confident about what is possible, what you can achieve, how you can apply your talents and skills in this complex world — because you have a hard-earned MIT degree!
Your degree is an extra special accomplishment because you faced so many adversities along the way, individually and together... as a class.
But you did it! And all of us here today, and celebrating with you around the globe, are so proud of you!
So now let's listen to some soulful music, and then get those diplomas to you and make things official!
Congratulations MIT Class of 2024!
Adanna, take it away!
