xSELeratED: Words to Live By - Graduation Wisdom from 2025
- Walter McKenzie
- Jun 8
- 4 min read
This piece is from the new SEL initiative on The Worthy Educator, xSELeratED, led by Leigh Alley, Heather Lageman and Krista Leh.
🎓 Every spring, the field of education celebrates as a new generation of graduates steps into the world with knowledge, dreams, and - perhaps most importantly - inspiration. The graduation ceremonies of 2025 were no exception. Whether you’re a new graduate, a proud parent, or just someone looking for a spark of inspiration, the 2025 commencement season delivered powerful messages worth remembering. We’ve curated some of the best advice and most moving quotes from this year’s speakers; each one a reminder of the power of growth, courage, and purpose.
“Everything you have learned in the liberal arts - the humanities - depends on that connection. You bring your superpower to it.”
Wired tech journalist Steven Levy reassured graduates that despite the rise of AI, it cannot replicate uniquely human connections, empathy, or consciousness."
🎓Advice → Go out and seize the world. It is still yours to conquer.
“You’re really only ever competing with yourself, with the limitations you’re willing to accept, with the smallness of someone else’s idea of what you’re capable of.”
The actress talked about how the problems of this world will take all of us to solve them, so we need to spread the wealth. We need to invite more people to the solutions party, not less.
🎓Advice → When I didn’t get my slices of pie, I baked my own.
“How you approached today, and every day, is a choice - your choice. Your life will ultimately be framed by the choices you make.”
The Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player, entrepreneur and philanthropist spoke about commitment and purpose. He suggests seeing disappointment as an opportunity to learn, not as a reason to quit. Surround yourself with the right people to help buoy you after a failure - and make your chance of success greater.
🎓Advice → Embrace change, focus on goals and learn from others.
“The world doesn’t need you to be perfect. It needs you to be bold.”
The Olympic champion encouraged graduates to embrace boldness, show up for yourself consistently, be the greatest you, stay creative, be a leader, and never give up.
🎓Advice → The world needs courageous, persistent individuals.
“Strict adherence to a meticulous plan deprives your career - and your life - of the opportunity to seize and pursue luck. Don’t spend your time plotting your career as a series of steps on a ladder. Take the plunge.”
The President of the World Bank Group shared his secrets for a successful career. He explained that success is not a straight path paved by hard work alone; it’s shaped by the unexpected, driven by purpose, and sustained by character.
🎓Advice → Seize luck, chase curiosity and lead with decency.
“Ultimately, success is a team sport. We are all part of a great chain of learners...choose friends and loved ones who will help you become stronger in character, gentler in spirit and truer to your best self.”
The prize-winning and world famous neurogeneticist discussed how she sees the beauty of academia is that it is a gift economy, not a market economy. By being generous in turn, she has kept her mentors’ original gifts to her circulating in the lives of her students and colleagues.
🎓Advice → Live generously.
“Don’t collect promotions, collect experiences,” she said. Those often come in lateral moves, changing industries or organizations or even taking-on extra work. The pay bump may not be immediate, but different roles are what can make you a better leader.”
The President and CEO of S&P Global encouraged that if something is interesting, grads should go for it, playing the long game. Rather than worry about the prestige. If you are passionate about it, it’s going to help you achieve your goals.
🎓Advice → Live authentically.
“Success isn’t owned, it’s rented,” he told the class of 2025. It needs to be consistently worked for by “watching your own film” and learning from your mistakes. “That self-awareness is a leadership skill.”
The Eagles wide receiver, who started his own youth literacy and mental health foundation, concluded encouraging all graduates, not just the business majors, to think of themselves as their own operations. Whether as entrepreneurs or as rank-and-file corporate workers, “your discipline is your product, your name is your brand, your habits are your investments.”
🎓Advice → Make discipline your habit.
His “Kermencement” speech encouraged graduates to “leap together instead of leaping over someone else.”
The world’s most famous frog, wearing a Muppet-size cap and gown, thrilled the crowd at the commencement ceremony with his humor. His speech included three things close to his heart: finding your people, taking the leap and making connections. He also paid tribute to Henson whom he said “in the early days, had a hand in literally everything I did.”
He also mentioned Henson’s wife Jane, who also attended University of Maryland and died in 2013 at the age of 79 after a long battle with cancer.
🎓Advice → Leave the world better than you found it.
🌟From the Worthy Educator to You
Which quote speaks to you the most? Let the words from these speeches - the sage advice, innovative strategies and hope-filling mantras that we want to etch in our minds - be the North Star you carry into the next chapter of life, no matter where you are on your journey.
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Got something that needs to be heard? We'll get it said and read on the Worthy Educator blog! Email it to walter@theworthyeducator.com
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