The Class of 2026 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges was challenged Sunday to reject division, embrace collaboration, and build stronger communities during a commencement ceremony centered on service, connection, and shared responsibility.
Delivering the commencement address, Dame Louise Richardson told graduates that success in life and work depends on relationships with others, not individual achievement alone.
“We achieve nothing alone,” Richardson said during the ceremony. “It doesn’t matter if you want to make a book or a building, a new polymer or a new digital platform, you are going to have to find those other people who will want to do it with you.”
Richardson, who accepted an honorary degree and the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, urged graduates to become “community builders” at a time of growing political polarization and social division. Drawing from her leadership roles at Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Universities of Oxford and St. Andrews, she described community as “the antidote to despair and the foundation of purpose.”
Throughout the address, Richardson pointed to examples from nature — including migratory birds, coral reefs, and underground fungal networks — as models of cooperation and interconnectedness.
She also warned graduates about the role technology and algorithms can play in deepening societal divisions.
“It will take concentrated effort to overcome the algorithms that keep us in opposing camps,” Richardson said, “but it has never been more vital to leap the fence.”
The themes of empathy, service, and civic responsibility carried through the rest of the ceremony.
College President Mark D. Gearan reflected on how dramatically the world changed during the graduates’ four years on campus, noting that ChatGPT had not yet launched before the class arrived at HWS. While acknowledging rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, Gearan emphasized that character and humanity remain irreplaceable.
“One thing is clear,” Gearan said. “You can still be a better person.”
Gearan connected that message to the ceremony’s honorary degree recipients, praising their commitment to public service, leadership, and community engagement. In addition to Richardson, honorary degrees were awarded to community advocate Lillian Collins, Father Thomas P. Mull, and Lt. Gen. John L. Woodward Jr. ’68.
Senior speakers Randy Hong and Maeghan Mahoney also reflected on perseverance, family sacrifice, and the responsibility graduates carry into a rapidly changing world.
Hong, a Posse Scholar from California majoring in computational neuroscience and public health, spoke about his father’s journey to the United States as a Vietnamese refugee and credited his family’s sacrifices for helping him reach graduation day.
Mahoney, a biology and environmental studies double major from Phelps, encouraged classmates to use their education in service of others and approach the future with compassion and curiosity.
“HWS did not give us answers,” Mahoney said. “It gave us something better — the ability to ask the right questions, and the courage to pursue them.”
The ceremony concluded with a final call for graduates to carry the values of collaboration and public service into their communities and careers.
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