The Governor's Academy Celebrates The Class of 2025

The Governor's Academy held its 262nd Commencement exercises on the lawn of Mansion House on May 25. Ninety-seven members of the Class of 2025 received their diplomas before a crowd of faculty, family, friends, and underclass students.  

Delivering this year’s Commencement Address was Dr. Jonathan Holloway, the 21st president of Rutgers University. He is an eminent historian specializing in post-emancipation United States history with a focus on social and intellectual history. Before accepting the presidency of Rutgers, Dr. Holloway was provost of Northwestern University from 2017 to 2020 and a member of the faculty of Yale University from 1999 to 2017. At Yale, he served as Dean of Yale College and the Edmund S. Morgan Professor of African American Studies, History, and American Studies. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in American studies from Stanford University and a PhD in history from Yale University. Dr. Holloway serves on several boards, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, and he is a Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Holloway opened his remarks with the poem “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver, which closes with the question, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” He invited graduates to celebrate their many accomplishments and friendships today while also devoting time to giving thanks. He said to students, “Do not remain only in the bubble of your own design.” Holloway encouraged them to honor the complexity of our world by seeking out diverse perspectives and reminded them that the United States was “born out of an argument, rooted in descent, and emerged united.”

After receiving their diplomas, graduates followed the faculty to the Little Red Schoolhouse to say “goodbye for now” and then walked to Mansion House together to take a metaphoric leap into the next chapter of their lives. The jumping of the wall, when graduates literally jump over the stone wall behind the Mansion House, has been a tradition since the 1950s and continues to be a treasured and significant ritual for each graduating class. 

The Commencement processional was led by the two members of the Class of 2025 who won awards voted on by the Academy’s entire faculty. Gracie Augustine of Wilmington, Massachusetts, was awarded the Morse Flag, which is presented each year “to a senior whose record in all respects meets the highest approval of the faculty.” Eva Bockoff of Newburyport, Massachusetts, won the Academy Prize, which is “awarded to a senior whose unselfishness and sportsmanship have best exemplified the spirit of the school.” This year's Thorndike Hilton Award, awarded to the "ranking scholar of the graduating class" was presented to Yutong (Adrian) Chen of Guangzhou, China.