Graduating seniors from the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and School of Communications crossed the stage in Schar Center at Elon University’s 136th Undergraduate Commencement on May 22.
The ceremony for business and communications majors began at 9 a.m. and featured speeches from Elon University President Connie Book, student speaker Ruby Radis ‘26 and commencement speaker Patricia Walsh Chadwick.
Book and Chadwick spoke to graduates before commencement in the practice gym and urged them to be optimistic about their futures.
“The world out there is challenging and very exciting, and I’m looking forward to — having any sense of what you’re all thinking about — presenting the optimistic outlook for your futures,” Chadwick said. “It’s the end of four years, and it’s the beginning of the rest of your life.”
Blessed Eshun graduated with a degree in business administration and said he has enjoyed connecting with other seniors over the past week through commencement events.
“It’s been nice to just get with my peers and really get to talk,” Eshun said. “Even though we get friends and we find our niches here, we have to remember all the people that we met.”
Eshun said graduating felt surreal, but he is looking forward to beginning his career in the investment space.
School of Communications graduate Pauline Alibaksh also commented on seeing everyone in her class in the same place.
“It feels weird. I see a lot of faces that I recognize and a lot of faces I haven’t seen in a while,” Alibaksh said. “It’s interesting and fun.”
While graduates prepared to walk into Schar Center, their families filled the stadium. Linda Dickinson, mother to Delaney Dickinson, said she is proud and thankful for the experiences her daughter has had at Elon.
“She’s had an amazing four years with great experiences,” Dickinson said. “She studied abroad, made some great friends that I know she will treasure for a lifetime. It’s amazing.”
In her message of appreciation, Radis commented on the values she has learned at Elon and what graduating seniors will take with them after college.
“Our Elon journey has taught us to implement the values of human difference, to have passion for life and learning,” Radis said. “We can use these tools to navigate our future.”
Chadwick emphasized the value of Elon’s education in urging students to be strong, resilient and flexible in her address. Her son, Jim Chadwick, graduated from Elon in 2016, and she told the class of 2026 about his first post-graduate career founding a company for video game streaming. While he ultimately closed the company, he felt it was necessary to try.
“There are many paths to fulfillment and very few are straight lines,” Chadwick said.
Chadwick left graduates with a call to learn from their mistakes and failures, and see commencement as the beginning of a new phase of ongoing education.
“The world does not need perfection,” Chadwick said. “It needs courage. It needs integrity. It needs people willing to learn, adapt and move forward, even when the path is uncertain.”
Undergraduate commencement for Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education and School of Health Sciences will begin at 2:30 p.m.