Commencement Speeches

June 9, 2025

Belén Yudess ’25 and Abbie Oh Arroyo ’25

Good evening, everybody and thank you for joining us for this extraordinary occasion! Today is the first time a handful of you will walk across a real stage to receive […]

Nava Mau PO’14

It’s an indescribable feeling to be back here in Claremont. You know, I’ve been on a whirlwind in just the past ten days. But, you know, let alone the past […]

May 20, 2024

Ella Lehavi ’24

Can you guys believe that 4 years of my life and thousands of dollars in tuition lead up to this moment, and all we got out of it was a […]

May 15, 2023

Kelly McCreary 2023

Thank you to President Marcus-Newhall, Trustees, faculty, and distinguished guests. First and foremost, I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of congratulations to the Class of 2023! It […]

Ishi Gupta ’23 and Elaine Yang ’23

“Forging a New Path in Community” Good afternoon family, friends, faculty, and loved ones. My name is Ishi, and my name is Elaine. And welcome to Commencement for the Class […]

May 24, 2022

Salle Yoo ’92

A video of the Commencement ceremonies for the Classes of 2020 and 2021, including Salle Yoo’s speech, is available here. Good Morning. I’d like to thank President Amy Marcus-Newhall, the […]

Clare Cannon ’08

I am so excited to be with you today. I am honored and grateful to be a guest on the lands of the Tongva people. I am honored and humbled […]

May 18, 2022

“Which Future(s) Will You Create” Andrea J. Ritchie Scripps College Commencement: May 14, 2022 Thank you President Marcus-Newhall, esteemed Trustees, Deans, Faculty, staff, Class Presidents, and students of Scripps College. […]

May 18, 2019

Poppy MacDonald ’97

Good afternoon. These speeches generally open with a long list of acknowledgments–and for good reason, because there’s something very special happening today, and no one here had less to do […]

President Lara Tiedens

Seek Friends, not Enemies. Yep, seek Friends. Don’t seek enemies. This may seem obvious, or even odd advice. After all, who would have told you to seek enemies? Many years […]

May 29, 2018

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Greetings Class of 2018 and to all who help you be that! Or as they say in South Africa: All Protocols observed! I am so very honored to be here […]

Leslie Moreno

Bienvenidos familiares, compaÃ±eras, y amigos, First, I would like to recognize that we are on sacred Tongva land, and on this land today, we are celebrating a moment in […]

May 9, 2017

Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code

Graduates, deans, parents, and guests: thank you so much for inviting me to share this day with you. I know it’s traditional for a commencement speaker to start off with […]

Vivian Wei-Zhou Zhang

Dear friends, family, and family of friends: Today, we’re celebrating this moment in our journeys, and we’re celebrating the journeys that have brought us to this moment. It’s my honor […]

May 14, 2016

Madeleine Albright, 64th U.S. Secretary of State

…You will embark on a new stage in your lives â€“ meeting different people, traveling far and wide, and experiencing life as you never have before.You will be able to face the future with confidence because the skills and values you developed here at Scripps will go along with you.This means you are as well-equipped as any young people could be to continue your search for truth in an uncertain and often confusing world.

Catherine Chiang

Hello and good evening. I am incredibly honored to be here, with the class of 2016 and many of the people who have supported us along our journey. I always […]

May 20, 2015

Sarah Kay

Sometimes it is hard to believe that we can be working on the same thing. Sometimes the way you build is so different from the way someone else does. You want to be big and visible and radical and loud, someone else wants to work quietly, under the radar, out of the public eye. It is possible to have many front lines in the same war. It is possible that the people you disagree with are really trying to do the same work, trying to build the same future, even if we see it different ways. You can lay bricks until walls are constructed, until a temple is built. Or you can dream towards a temple until you figure out which walls to build and which bricks to lay. You can shape behavior until it changes minds. Or you change minds until it shapes behavior. You create options by choice and example.

Olivia Buntaine ’15

I know that each and everyone of us in these green robes have our own story of earthy endurance, growing roots deep into rich soil, striving and grappling underground. But we are ready to start growing upwards. Now we can complement the orange trees, and let our endurance tell a different story of beauty. Congratulations class of 2015, we will endure.

May 17, 2014

Nonie Creme ’94

College is a crucial time to explore yourself and your mind. Try stuff. Develop opinions, and just be in an environment where your BIG job and purpose is simply to think. These years are gold dust. Trust me, you’ll carry on reinventing yourself for the rest of your life, but what you learnt here at Scripps will creep in and tap you on the shoulder at the most amazing times. You may not even realize you knew those things, but they’re in there.

Sanggeet Manirajah ’14

I will leave you not with a quote, but with a question. As you take this first of many steps on this journey, what will you carry with you?