Commonwealth University-Lock Haven holds spring 2026 commencement ceremonies

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Commonwealth University-Lock Haven celebrated the graduating Class of 2026 during three spring commencement ceremonies, all held in the Thomas Fieldhouse. Graduate students were celebrated on Friday, May 15, at 6 p.m. and undergraduate students were recognized in two ceremonies on Saturday, May 16. Students in the College of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences participated in the 9 a.m. ceremony and students in the College of Health, Science and Technology and the Zeigler College of Business participated in the noon ceremony.

More than 400 members of the Class of 2026 received their degrees.

Graduate ceremony speakers included Dr. Stephen Lee, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs and Lock Haven campus administrator welcomed students and guests and Dr. Jeffery Osgood, president, addressed the graduates. Other speakers included Angela Smith, CU Council of Trustees; Dr. Erin Kennedy, Lock Haven APSCUF president; and John Newcomer, LHU Alumni Association president.

"You know life can change overnight. You know tomorrow is not guaranteed," Osgood said. "That knowledge, if you let it, can make you kinder. It can make you braver. It can make you impossible to fool. So, as you leave this university, I want to ask something of you. Spend your life devoted to building. Build things. Build communities. Build families. Build businesses. Build art. Build trust. Build a life so honest that people feel safer simply standing next to you."

"So, graduates, when this ceremony ends and the music fades and the photos are posted and the gowns are packed away, the question is not whether you will be successful. All of you will be," Osgood added. "The question is whether your success will make the world colder - or more human."

Speakers at the undergraduate ceremonies included Lee, Osgood, Smith, Kennedy and Newcomer; along with alumnus Nick Subich '17 and student speaker Hunter Hartford, student government board president.

"My time at Lock Haven was filled with football, the Army ROTC program, and working full time, sometimes full and part time, to support myself and my education," Subich said. "There were at least two times during my stay at Lock Haven that I received $1,500 in emergency financial assistance scholarships. Today I am going to pay that back 1,000-fold by giving the university $1.5M to start the Subich Media and Entrepreneurship center. This center will give students the opportunity and tools they need to compete in today's ultra-competitive environment."

"Sometimes success is proving to yourself you can do it alone, but I learned very quickly if you want to go anywhere fast, go alone, but if you want to go somewhere far, take people with you," Subich added. " Your success is not your parents, your friends, your professor's. It is your success. Honor the people that poured into you. Congratulations to the class of 2026."

"We managed to make it through a tumultuous four or so years," Hartford said. "We faced our challenges with COVID and found our place in an integrated university. Even through some of these trying times we have shown perseverance. This perseverance is what led us here today, finally on the verge of starting whatever comes next in our journeys. As we leave here today, we step into a world that is constantly changing, one that may not always be easy or predictable. But if these past four years have taught us anything, it's that we are capable of adapting, overcoming, and pushing forward even when things feel uncertain."

Categories:

• Commencement

Tags:

• Graduation