You set a standard for perseverance and grit beyond anything any parent would have wished for their child. You cleared a path in ways that might have overwhelmed your parents . The Class of 2025, my own child among them, traveled an agonizing pathway of their own to get to the doorsteps of their colleges and universities, but they have been welcomed with a wide-open road ahead because you stepped up and did it first.
Nobody can replace what was taken. But we can acknowledge that those who come after you must respect your journey, honor what you experienced, and thank you for keeping the fire going during some cold dark nights. You will always be your own generation, forced to share a name and character with no other. The pre-vax class of 2024 who showed up as first-years and made it work. For that, you deserve the honor and respect of every university chancellor, dean, department chair, professor, faculty and staff member who rely on a college campus for their livelihood.millennium's greatest generation not just because of what you accomplished during the pandemic, but because you proved what is possible.
Thank you, 2024. For getting through it. For having grace and courage. And for showing 2025 exactly how it’s done.