HGSE Commencement Celebrates the Class of 2026

Not even a mid-ceremony downpour could dampen spirits as the Harvard Graduate School of Education celebrated its class of 2026 on Thursday afternoon.

Huge cheers and shouts of joy echoed around Radcliffe Yard and onto the surrounding streets of Brattle, James, Mason, Garden and beyond as 774 educators became the latest graduates of HGSE.

Waving a book written by this year’s Convocation speaker, Mychal Threets, HGSE’s newest graduates began their morning marching into Harvard Yard and sat in Tercentenary Theatre for university commencement exercises along with the graduates of 10 other Harvard schools. Following a poignant and hilarious speech from comedian and Harvard alum Conan O’Brien, the Ed School contingent of Harvard’s graduating class walked back down Appian Way to assemble behind Longfellow Hall for the afternoon diploma ceremony.

Wearing the customary blue and red graduation robes and Tudor bonnet of her alma mater, the University of British Columbia, Dean Nonie Lesaux addressed graduates in a speech that focused on resiliency and human flourishing. Recalling her own study of a groundbreaking work by Emmy Werner and colleagues called “Children of the Garden Island,” Lesaux detailed how the researchers documented that developmental outcomes for children are significantly impacted by three major factors that build resilience in people.

“Resilience was not some mysterious individual trait that some people had and others didn’t. It was and is the product of interactions between individuals and their environments,” said Lesaux. “One caring adult, real responsibility, and a setting that asks something of you and means it.”

Relating those findings to the mission of HGSE and the school’s community, Lesaux reflected on how the graduating class can promote human flourishing and help build resilience in communities around the world.

“I think your work as HGSE graduates is that, through your work big and small, direct and indirect, and in formal settings and informal ones, you can build the systems, organizations, and communities where resilience is not the exception, but the norm,” said Lesaux. “That is both the opportunity and the responsibility you carry with you starting today.”

HGSE’s ceremony featured many of the hallmarks of community and caring Lesaux highlighted in her speech. The conferring of diplomas and certificates featured hugs so enthusiastic they dislodged graduation caps, excited children of graduates – including several newborns – whose presence garnered their own cheers and applause, and family and friends scrambling for photos to capture the joy and pride of their graduates’ achievement.

Lesaux noted many more of those achievements are yet to come, though the path ahead for educators will not be without challenges.

“The world you are stepping into will come with its share of adversity alongside your successes. When those tough moments arrive – and they will – I hope you will remember the three findings,” Lesaux said. “Remember the people who showed up for you. Remember the sense of purpose that shaped who you are. Remember the places that held you. Remember these and then go and make these things possible for someone else. And aspire to do that very work each and every day.”

Resilience was, indeed, the theme of the day. Mother Nature would test the resilience of those sitting outside the tent in Radcliffe Yard, as a brief downpour helped produce a canopy of umbrellas and cause those without cover to crowded further into the tent’s edges. But as the ceremony continued, clouds parted, the sun reappeared and so, too, did the smiles of those gathered on a proud day on Appian Way.

Of the 774 members of the Class of 2026, 19 earned their Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Ph.D.),17 were awarded their Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.), and eight earned their Certificate of Advanced Study in Counseling. A total of 611 graduates earned their Master’s in Education (Ed.M): 144 from the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (ELOE) Program, 117 from the Education Policy and Analysis (EPA) Program, 132 from the Human Development and Education (HDE) Program, 133 from the Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology (LDIT) Program, 85 from the Teaching and Teacher Leadership (TTL) Program, and 89 from the Online Master’s in Education Leadership Program.

Lesaux also paid tribute to senior lecturer on education Mary Grassa O’Neill, who retired from HGSE at the end of the academic year and received a standing ovation from faculty on stage and many graduates seated below.

Two musical performances also highlighted the pomp and circumstance of the afternoon’s program of events. A dozen young choirists in robes and millstone collars from St. Paul’s Choir School of Harvard Square performed “For the Splendor of Creation” along with piano accompaniment. Later, a brief intermission during the degree ceremony featured Will Chow and Mickey Katz of the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing Sonata for Two Cellos in G Major by Jean-Baptiste Barrèire.

After the last degree was conferred, and before chants of “HGSE! HGSE! HGSE!” filled the tent in jubilation, Lesaux issued a final farewell to the newest alumnae of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

“We send you off knowing you leave us to do the most important work, and that the knowledge, community, and resilience that you gained here at the Ed. School will guide and serve you,” said Lesaux. “There are great things to come. Our very, very best. Congratulations to the Class of 2026.”