“Go Forth to Serve": St. Lawrence Celebrates Class of 2025 at Commencement
In a celebration of academic and extracurricular achievement, resilience, and community spirit, about 500 members of the St. Lawrence University Class of 2025 participated in the University’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18, in Newell Fieldhouse.
President Kate Morris commended the students on their successes in the classroom and on their readiness to engage with the world.
“Graduates—individually and as a class—you have much to be proud of,” President Morris said. “You’ve engaged in scholarship that is rigorous, personal, interdisciplinary, and bold. You’ve learned to respectfully share ideas across differences, and you have pushed outside your comfort zones to take on new challenges on campus and beyond. You are the thoughtful, innovative, hard-working, and clear-thinking researchers, creators, teachers, leaders, and citizens our world needs.”
Leading Laurentians
Faculty speaker and beloved Professor and Chair of Education Jeff Frank spoke about the value of a St. Lawrence education in a world that threatens our ability to remain engaged. In a world of “noise and animosity,” Frank said, “it is not easy to hear what we were each put on this earth to accomplish.”
But Frank insisted that St. Lawrence provides precisely the antidote needed for students to navigate an uncertain and unpredictable future.
“This is what a SLU education does,” Frank said. “It inspires you to do what you didn’t think was possible. It demands that you live up to your potential.”
Frank went on to highlight the values St. Lawrence instills in its students that make them strong and prepared. Their ability and desire to listen to others, their respect for differences, their diversity–these traits allow them, he said, to “build bridges of interest, compassion, and friendship.”
“Engaging across difference is SLU’s superpower,” Frank said. “Make it your superpower. The world is retreating into echo chambers and silos. Not here. SLU forced you out of your comfort zone, and this allowed you to gain a deeper understanding of who you are. Don’t run from or attack our fundamental human diversity. Engage, knowing that our differences make us stronger.”
President Morris and Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs Alison Del Rossi were joined on stage by honorary degree recipient Mike Ranger '80 P '17, Trustee and Board Chair Emeritus.
Ranger, whose professional path progressed from banking and private equity to executive leadership, was honored for his steadfast commitment to the St. Lawrence community.
“Since first joining the Board of Trustees in 1993, you have helped guide St. Lawrence through pivotal chapters of growth and change,” Del Rossi said. She added that Ranger’s time as Board Chair was marked by wisdom, clarity, and a tireless focus on the student experience.
“You asked thoughtful questions, held high standards, and always reminded us to keep the mission of liberal education at the heart of our work,” Del Rossi said.
In his acceptance speech, Ranger reflected on St. Lawrence as his “soul place,” which he described as a place that makes you more fulfilled, more grateful, more optimistic, more included, and maybe just more human.
Ranger reminisced on his time at St. Lawrence—how it shaped who he is, and how the Laurentian community allowed him to find success professionally and personally.
“My SLU experience was filled with a series of adventures, choices, and wonder that fostered curiosity, the willingness to thrill to challenges and to build strong relationships, all in the pursuit of doing as well as I could... but not at the expense of others,” he said.
Ranger then referenced the beautiful stained-glass window in Gunnison Memorial Chapel inscribed with the words “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve.”
“You have it in you as a Laurentians to fulfill this promise,” he said, “and move forward from this place!”
Academic Excellence
Senior Class President Isabelle “Izzie” Reiniger ’25, a political science major and environmental studies minor from Rowley, Mass., reminisced on her time at St. Lawrence, from saying goodbye to her parents when they dropped her off, to meeting her now-lifelong friends, to her first cold winter on campus.
“I still vividly remember sitting on a rock outside my freshman dorm, crying on the phone to my mom and Googling, 'how soon is too soon to drop out of college?'” Reiniger said.
But through all the hardships and late nights, Reiniger couldn’t believe how fast the four years went. And she praised the University for the strong educational and personal foundation it has bestowed upon her and her fellow graduates.
“What we’ve grown here has strong roots,” she said. “As we go off in different directions, I hope we carry this place with us.”
“And wherever we land next,” she added, “may we continue to grow, connect, and build something just as meaningful.”
Winner of the Joan Donovan Speech Contest and senior orator Pedro Yupa ’25, a political science major, government minor, and first-generation Latine student from Corona, N.Y., spoke about the importance of leading with selflessness and compassion to create social change and received a standing ovation from the audience.
“I don’t stand here as someone who ‘made it,’" Yupa said. “I stand here as someone who was carried by family, by community, by struggle.”
“And now,” he said, “it’s our turn to carry others.”
Yupa went on to describe everything St. Lawrence has given him and his classmates—from friends he now calls family, to mentors who didn’t just teach, but challenged, pushed, and inspired him to be better.
“SLU gave me everything,” he said, “and I gave it all of me.”
The Jeffery H. Boyd Class of ’78 Prize, awarded for overall contributions and exemplary leadership, was given to Lily Kendall '25, a statistics and computer-science major who maintained a 3.9 GPA while also enrolling in at least one humanities course every semester.
During her time on campus, Kendall founded the Women in Math & Computer Science club and helped organize events that foster connection and confidence in fields where some students haven’t always felt at home. Kendall also studied abroad in Japan, where she interned for a tech firm in Kyoto. A teaching assistant, student leader, yoga instructor, fundraiser, event planner, and bridge-builder, Kendall was described by her nominators as a “paragon of the St. Lawrence liberal arts education.”
The Trustee Academic Achievement Award went to the two members of the senior class who tied for the highest cumulative grade point average in four years of study at St. Lawrence. Taylor Lum '25, a data science major, and Allison McCormick '25, a mathematics and psychology major, both achieved cumulative GPAs of 4.0.
Making a Difference
During the ceremony, Executive Director of the Wild Center Stephanie Ratcliffe P’13, ’16 received the North Country Citation in recognition of her leadership of a community foundation that strengthens and enriches Adirondack communities.
The Wild Center helped build a climate education model that has been replicated in over 180 youth summits around the world, and has brought students to international forums like the UN Climate Conferences in Paris and Scotland, noted Del Rossi.
Ratcliffe praised the strength of the North Country region and reflected on the way its residents care for one another. She urged the graduates to remember that these close-knit communities aren’t spontaneous–they’re built. “They’re woven together through your openness to support others and to allow others to support you,” she said. “That mutual dependence isn’t a weakness—it’s the fabric that holds us together.”
Earlier, during Commencement Weekend, three Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets received their commissions as officers in the United States military: Seamus O’Brien '25, a biology major, was commissioned into the Military Intelligence Branch. Greyson Pasquina '25, an economics and history major, was commissioned into the Signal Corps. Alex Tidd '25, a statistics and chemistry major, will attend the Aviation Officer Basic Training Course and Flight School.
Anna Fitzgerald '25, vice president of the senior class, announced that the "spirit and generosity" of the class members, as well as their family and friends, resulted in a total of $625,695 to the inaugural Senior Capstone Gift. This annual fundraising campaign invites parents and families to honor their students' St. Lawrence experience by making a gift to “cap” off their student’s undergraduate career.
Congratulations to all our graduates and their loved ones!
