There was a common thread among The University of Baltimore’s Class of 2026 graduates. It was clear in stories they shared on social posts and in conversations as they waited for their turn to walk.
It was even a theme woven into the speeches.
These graduates worked hard to reach this moment, but it was their support system that made it all possible. Family members, friends, colleagues, cohorts, professors, staff, neighbors—all made an impact, whether they gave a piece of advice or a lasting relationship.
“It's a combination of everybody that showed up here for me,” Jevona Anderson said.
Anderson graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Sustainability and History minor. Getting to that moment had seemed impossible at times. She got evicted from her home, started failing courses and drowning under bills.
She stopped out amid her struggles.
The University gave her a way back.
Standing in a hallway of The Lyric Baltimore, below the stage where her name would soon be called with her fellow graduates, Anderson recited her own list of names: Stephen Mogar, Renee Edmonds, Monique Hill, Tammy Taylor, Jessica Stansbury. These were some of the UBalt staff members she credits for getting her to this finish line—and encouraging her to start a new race. Anderson was accepted to return to UBalt as a Master of Public Administration student.
“When you find your support system, you stay together,” she said.
Both student speeches and keynote address also touched on the power of support systems.
Gamar Hayles, B.S. ’26, thought of his mother in his hardest moment.
From the podium during the undergraduate commencement ceremony, Hayles recalled a night when he sat frozen behind the wheel of his car. He just finished a shift of the second job he took to ease the expenses of choosing an out-of-state school.
Hayles moved from Chicago to Baltimore to discover the person he was destined to be. But between the jobs, the student leadership roles he sought out, and his B.S. in Information Systems and Technology Management classes, he was finding that journey harder than he imagined.
“I honestly thought, ‘I don’t know if I can do this anymore,’” Hayles said. “But then I heard my mother’s voice—in that unmistakable Jamaican tone: ‘God will never put you through anything you cannot handle.’”
With her in his mind, he pushed on, seeking support from his friends at UBalt that he knew were navigating similarly busy lives.
“Not only did they reground and connect me to scholarships where I didn’t need to work as much as I did. Most importantly my friends motivated me to see the bigger vision I had for myself,” Hayles said. “And that moment—the moment that almost broke me—became the moment that built me.”
Hayles closed his speech thanking his family and friends for “carrying us when we couldn’t carry ourselves.” Then he turned back to his fellow graduates and challenged them to turn struggles into strength, purpose into action and dreams into reality, to “rewrite the world one story at a time.”
Erick Masaua, M.S. ’26, spoke about the motivation he found after having his daughter and later, learning his father had stage 4 cancer.
He decided to move forward to honor both and soon realized he wasn’t the only one balancing burdens with responsibilities. Masaua recalled an ordinary conversation with a classmate that would inspire his parting advice for his peers at commencement.
“I once spoke with a classmate—I’ll call him Daniel. From the outside, he looked like he had everything together, but one day he told me, ‘I almost dropped out.’ And then he said something simple but powerful: ‘I stopped trying to be perfect, and I just focused on not giving up,’” Masaua told his classmates.
The lesson Masaua took from that conversation was this:
“Don’t measure your journey by perfection, measure it by persistence. So, go forward with confidence," advised the new M.S. in Counseling Psychology alum. "Go forward with purpose. Go forward knowing this: If we could make it through everything it took to get here, there is absolutely nothing ahead of us that we cannot overcome, not because life was easy, but because we refused to give up.”
In his remarks during UBalt's School of Law commencement on May 21, Brady McCormick shared a story similar to what Masaua offered at his ceremony the day before.
He spoke about the times he nearly quit but then kept pushing forward, aiming to cross small finish lines he thought he could reach.
“I know I'm not the only soon to be graduate who fought that fight. So take it from us. In a world that is no shortage of people who will tell you no, who will speak negatively, people who say you can't do it, you're not good enough, you shouldn't even try, do not let yourself be another one of those voices.”
McCormick took his moment on stage to thank his peers who inspired him to keep going, even when they didn’t realize the impact of their actions.
“Looking back, I owe so much to the kindness of the peers I got to experience this journey with. A friendly voice at the first day of orientation, a tight-knit evening program, the ups and downs of classes and clinic, and true friends at every step of the way. Lawyers are often described with words other than nice or kind. But I hope we will lead with kindness and grace throughout our careers. The most passionate advocate, the most capable legal professional, and the kindest soul in the room can all be the same person.”
McCormick was one of three law students to earn the distinction of valedictorian, sharing the title with Paige Lauenstein and William Cellitto.
Echoing McCormick’s sentiments, Lauenstein shared how grateful she was for the community she found, somewhat unexpectedly, at UBalt's law school.
“I made a lot of really good friends my first year and we’ve all stuck together but even outside of that original cohort, you build relationships with so many other people, so many professors, so many of the staff,” she said. … “I don’t know that I’ve had the network any other place that I’ve lived beside this, so it feels like I had this community that I can take into my career and have someone to call if I ever need anything, professionally or personally.”
That takeaway become a point Law Dean LaVonda Reed made to all her graduates. She urged the law students to take a moment and look at those sitting around them in the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
“This is your village. These are your people, your network.”
During the graduate and undergraduate ceremonies, Fagan Harris, president and CEO of The Abell Foundation, gave the keynote address, touching on the impact of the community that surrounds you.
Most poignant, though, was when he spoke of his mom and the lessons he learned of leadership by simply watching her example. He encouraged the graduates to be proud, show up, and have courage to be the example others are waiting for.
“Never underestimate what your presence means,” Harris said. “When you walk across this stage today, you are not only changing your life, you are expanding what feels possible to all the people watching you—younger siblings, children, neighbors, co-workers, entire families. In each of your lives, someone is going to attempt something difficult one day because they saw you do it first. That is how transformation spreads—quietly, personally, generationally.”
In The Lyric, families and friends filled the seats. They carried signs and flowers. They readied their phones for the moments their loved one’s name was called to cross the stage and receive their diploma. They filmed through tears. They shouted and cheered—unapologetically loud—prompting smirks and tears from the knowing graduates who recognized the shout-outs immediately.
Some graduates recognized those who couldn’t be there with their own shout-outs. Family members were recognized in cap décor. One student asked the name reader to share her motivation with her name: “Tonya Lovette Simpson, Bachelor of Science, in loving memory of her son who just passed away.”
The struggles, the persistence, the friendships, the late-night study sessions, and everything in between, for better or worse, fueled the graduates of the Class of 2026.
The years became worth the moment.
On the brink of her commencement, Keira Neal, B.S. ’26, stood among her fellow graduates excited for what’s next and proud of how she got there.
“This degree meant so much to me," the B.S. in Criminal Justice alum said. I persevered through it. It means strength and so much more. I'm just so grateful to be a student graduating from the University of Baltimore."
Her story echoes many and is still her own. Now her tassel shifted on her cap from right to left, she’s ready, much like her peers, like Hayles’ encouraged, to write her next story.
View the full speech videos.
Watch the commencement live streams: