Gettysburg College’s 191st Commencement celebrated the Class of 2026’s transformation through community, challenge, and A Consequential Education. Their four years here have empowered them to embrace uncertainty, lead with purpose, and be all in for a world that needs them.
With sunshine glistening off the white columns on the Beachem Portico of Pennsylvania Hall, Gettysburg College celebrated the Class of 2026 during its 191st Commencement ceremony, honoring 553 graduates whose journeys to Gettysburg began in communities across the country and around the world. Together, the graduates represented 30 countries, reflecting the breadth, talent, and promise of a class shaped by curiosity, perseverance, and connection.
Before the speeches began, graduates took part in one of the College’s most meaningful Commencement traditions: processing through Pennsylvania Hall toward an expectant crowd of family and friends. The passage marked both an ending and a beginning, as members of the Class of 2026 entered the ceremony as students and prepared to depart as Gettysburg alumni.
In his opening remarks, President Bob Iuliano reflected on the transformation that had taken place over the graduates’ four years at Gettysburg.
“Class of 2026, you passed through Pennsylvania Hall this morning a very different person than you arrived just four years ago,” Iuliano said. “You have been changed, forever. You have been changed because of your own hard work and determination, which we celebrate today.
“You have also been changed by virtue of the people who walked alongside you on your journey,” Iuliano continued, gesturing toward thousands of friends, classmates, family, faculty, and staff assembled across the north lawn between Penn Hall and Musselman Library.
Iuliano reminded graduates that the most lasting lessons often emerge not from certainty, but from challenge. From the moment they arrived on campus, Gettysburg challenged graduates to solve problems and answer questions they may not have known the answers to previously. But through determination and hard work, they discovered solutions and, in doing so, learned more about themselves and what they are capable of achieving.
“Your education at Gettysburg has you ready for those moments.”
– President Bob Iuliano
That ability to navigate complexity, Iuliano said, is central to the Gettysburg experience and increasingly important in a world being reshaped by rapid change. That readiness reflects the promise of A Consequential Education: a unique Gettysburg Approach that helps students connect knowledge, experience, and purpose as they prepare for lives of meaning and impact.
“Your education at Gettysburg has you ready for those moments,” he said. “It has taught you to ‘live the question,’ to embrace the uncomfortable, to be open to the unexpected, to learn, to unlearn, and to relearn. In a world likely to be turned on its head by AI, that may be the most valuable gift with which you will be leaving here today.”
Student speaker Bishruti Rijal ’26, a biology major and neuroscience minor from Kathmandu, Nepal, reflected on the community the Class of 2026 built together and the sense of belonging that will endure beyond Commencement. At Gettysburg, Rijal shaped her community through the many opportunities she pursued, including serving as a residence coordinator, working with the Center for Global Education, conducting research in psychology and through the Cross-Disciplinary Science Institute at Gettysburg (X-SIG), giving campus tours through Admissions, and engaging with the Center for Public Service, Garthwait Leadership Center, and Eisenhower Institute. She was also a member of Alpha Omicron Pi.
“We built community here. The kind that shows up,” Rijal said. “The people around you here are not just your college friends. They are not just a chapter in your life that ends today. They are proof that you already know how to do hard things. They are how you’ll do the next hard thing, too. They are your lifeboat as you embark on life’s next great journey.”
Rijal, who crossed an ocean while travelling 8,000 miles to find a home at Gettysburg, encouraged her classmates to trust the resilience they had already demonstrated.
“We leave here with knowledge, perspective, and resilience, but most importantly, we leave here knowing how to find our footing in unfamiliar places, because we already proved that we could,” she said.
Commencement speaker Kate Anderson ’09 returned to her alma mater with a message rooted in creativity, courage, and persistence. An acclaimed songwriter and librettist, Anderson has built a career across stage, film, and television, including work with Apple TV’s “Central Park,” Disney Animation’s “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure,” and internationally produced musicals such as “Between the Lines” and “The Book Thief.”
“Take a leap of faith and do something—and when it gets uncomfortable, don’t give up.”
– Kate Anderson ’09
Anderson noted it wasn’t that long ago when she was sitting in the same position as the graduates outside Penn Hall, wondering what was next. It was a scary moment she recalled, filled with trepidation about the unknown journey ahead.
“The fear of failure or shame keeps us from doing so much,” Anderson told the graduates. “And that is dumb. Because you know what people don’t remember when you succeed? The part where you were vulnerable or ‘cringey.’ If we never take risks, we never see rewards.”
Anderson spoke candidly about setbacks, rejection, and the value of perseverance. Just a few years after leaving Gettysburg, she applied to the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, a decision that changed her life. She met her writing partner, Elyssa Samsel, and together they worked tirelessly toward their goal of making it in the music industry. They eventually got their big break with “Between the Lines,” a musical based on the book written by best-selling author Jodi Picoult.
“Many, many, many times it would have been easy to drop the bit, to give up and give in,” said Anderson, who majored in music with a creative writing minor. “Instead, we stayed in character. In retrospect, the humbling moments in a career are often the most important.”
Anderson also reminded graduates that confidence and humility are not opposites, but partners. Confidence, Anderson said, helps people speak up when they have something meaningful to contribute, while humility allows them to recognize when it is time to listen. That balance, she emphasized, is essential to collaboration—bringing one’s own gifts to the table while trusting others to help build something stronger than anyone could create alone.
Then, echoing Iuliano’s call to embrace discomfort and uncertainty, Anderson challenged the Class of 2026 to persist through the moments when the path ahead feels unclear.
“So, I challenge you, Class of 2026. Commit to the bit,” she said. “Take a leap of faith and do something, and when it gets uncomfortable, don’t give up. Because something magical might happen. You might inspire someone else to do the same.”
The ceremony also included the conferral of honorary degrees to Anderson; James G. Basker, historian, literary scholar, educator, and president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History; Susan Eisenhower, policy strategist, author, and longtime leader with the Eisenhower Institute; and Chad Smith, president and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
After graduates crossed the stage to receive their degrees, waving to family members as they walked in front of Penn Hall and embracing faculty mentors off stage, the ceremony culminated with the recognition of the final two members of the Class of 2026: salutatorian Alice Mai-Anh Ngoc Nguyen ’26, a mathematical economics major from An Giang, Vietnam, and valedictorian Rebecca Ruggles ’26, a history major from Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland.
In his charge to the Class of 2026, Iuliano connected the themes of the day—community, uncertainty, authenticity, and courage—into a final call to action.
“My charge to you is simply this: be all in,” he said. “Be all in for your family and your friends. Be all in for your colleagues and communities. Be all in for a world that needs you.”
With that charge, the bell atop Glatfelter Hall began to ring and the Class of 2026 stepped into the world as Gettysburg College alumni—prepared to lead lives of consequence, to meet uncertainty with resilience, and to remain all in for the communities and causes that need them most.
Read President Iuliano’s full Commencement remarks.
By Corey Jewart
Photos by Jason Minick and Tyler Caruso
Posted: 05/19/26