The Governor's Academy Celebrates The Class of 2026

Graduates in maroon gowns toss their caps in the air inside a gymnasium with banners hanging from the ceiling.

May 26 2026

The Governor's Academy held its 263rd Commencement exercises this morning in the Pescosolido Field House. The rainy weather did not dampen the spirits of the ninety-seven members of the Class of 2026 who received their diplomas before a crowd of faculty, family, friends, and underclass students.

Graduates in maroon and white caps and gowns clap and cheer in a crowded auditorium.

Delivering this year’s Commencement Address was Derek Falvey, a Major League Baseball executive, who most recently served as the President of Baseball Operations and Business Operations for the Minnesota Twins. A member of the Academy’s Class of 2001, Falvey grew up in Lynn and played baseball while attending Trinity College in Connecticut. Falvey’s career in baseball began in 2007, when he began independently scouting players in the Cape Cod Baseball League, and continued for nearly two decades as he progressed through roles of increasing responsibility with the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins.

A man in academic regalia speaks at a podium in front of a backdrop of various flags, with blurred red fabric in the foreground.

Falvey spoke to the Class of 2026 about the Academy’s motto, Non Sibi Sed Alliis (Not for Self But For Others), and how it has been woven into his life for the last 25 years. He credits some of the opportunities he was offered professionally to people who acted according to the motto, and he strives to do the same as a leader. He said, “It was imprinted on me 25 years ago and on you over the last 4 years. It has never left me, and it will never leave you.”

After receiving their diplomas, graduates and faculty said “goodbye for now” in the shelter of Alumni Gymnasium and then walked in the rain 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.

A young man in a graduation gown leaps over a stone wall in the foreground, while other graduates stand behind a balloon arch in front of a white house and lush green trees in the background.

The Commencement processional was led by the two members of the Class of 2026 who won awards voted on by the Academy’s entire faculty. Tessa Borgatti of Byfield, 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.” Theo Andersen of Westminster, Massachusetts, won the Academy Prize, which is “awarded to a senior whose unselfishness and sportsmanship have best exemplified the spirit of the school.”