“You Are the Renaissance:” Howard Celebrates the Class of 2025

May 10 marked the day when 3,160 more individuals could officially call themselves graduates of Howard University. The Commencement Convocation — the first traditional ceremony since 2019 — brought a communal celebration to the Yard.

For the Class of 2025, the moment was more than a rite of passage; it was a declaration to “press this nation to live up to its full potential” as Commencement Convocation keynote speaker LeVar Burton said. 

What makes this graduation special, other than being the largest graduating class, is that students have taken on the traditional ‘long walk’ since 2019. The walkway that spans from the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts to Founders Library represents the long journey students take to get to and through Mecca. 

A walk, as described by President Ben Vinson III, “through rigorous study, late night debates, artistic breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, service to others and a deepening sense of understanding your purpose here. Your identity.”

Once seen as a ticket to stability, a college degree offers less certainty. Amid federal diversity rollbacks and ghost job listings, recent grads face a tightening job market. A 2024 S&P Global report found unemployment among 22 to 27-year-olds with degrees rose to 5.3 percent, nearing that of non-degree holders at 6.7 percent—a sign that credentials alone no longer guarantee an edge.

The Class of 2025 entered Howard at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, they’ve weathered mold outbreaks in dorms that left some students temporarily homeless, the Blackburn student protest, bomb threats, cybersecurity attacks and a campus lockdown over a sniper scare. 

In their final year, they watched alumna Kamala Harris lose her bid for the presidential election.

Still, none of that discouraged graduates like Karma Price, a graduate from the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. For Price and many others, adversity fueled a deeper commitment to the ongoing struggle for Black America.

“We are a people rooted in resilience,” said Price. “You can look at the whole timeline. There is nothing our people haven’t fought through and overcome. So the fact that things look dark—resilience is in our blood, our bodies, our bones.”

The term’ long walk’ was coined in the 1996 book  ‘The Long Walk: The Placemaking Legacy of Howard University’ by Harry G. Robinson III and Hazel Ruth Edwards. After being made into a documentary, titled the same as the book, produced and written by Raki Jones, the walkway became a symbol for Howard graduates to stay resilient through the trials and tribulations.  

Eric Scandrett, who earned his degree from the College of Engineering and Architecture, said he refused to internalize doubt cast on his generation.

“The mindset can be deceiving,” said Scandrett. “Sometimes people try to place insecurity and doubt on you when you know you are promised greatness. Step back and know the things you are doing are working in the way they need to be working.”

Among this year’s graduates are 467 first-generation college students who have carved their legacies. Devyn Jingles, a graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences, said her degree represents more than personal achievement.

“I’m the first in my family to graduate from college, so this is a moment not just for myself but for my entire family,” said Jingles.

For many, like Kari Degraffenreid, a graduate of the School of Law, earning a degree required immense sacrifice.

“We didn’t earn these hoods by sitting around. I’ve seen me and my classmates work hard, we cried, we prayed,” said Degraffenreid. “There’s no reason to doubt that we all are going to be fully confident, fully proficient, great lawyers.”

Vinson III compared the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s to the cultural revival unfolding in the 2020s. He reminded the audience that even in times of national peril, transformational change is possible.

He explained that if you add up the numbers in 2025, two, zero, two and five, you get nine. Vinson III referred to Pythagorean numerology, based on the teachings of Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE.

“The number nine represents completion, spiritual growth, universal love, humanitarian efforts and compassion, representing the end of the cycle and the potential for new beginnings,” said Vinson. “In other words, the number nine is symbolic of a renaissance.” 

President Vinson paused, looked at the crowd, smiled, and said, “ Once again, congratulations to you, the historic Class of 2025. You are not just part of a renaissance—you are the renaissance.”

Copy edited by Aniyah Genama