Hundreds of people gathered on Holmgren Meadow to celebrate the 23 undergraduates and 34 graduate students who received their diplomas.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Teddy Johnstone’s optimism was a burst of sunshine for the class of 2025 as the graduating senior addressed nearly 400 people gathered on Northeastern University’s Oakland campus for commencement under overcast skies Sunday morning.
Speaking to the crowd gathered on Holmgren Meadow, Johnstone said that the world needs the very qualities that have helped this year’s graduating class get to where they are.
“I see something very similar in all of us,” Johnstone said, “a deep curiosity and an iron will to move the world forward for all people.”
Johnstone, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature, thanked the faculty for confirming that “words have enormous power.”
“I believe that language and storytelling, paired closely with compassion, are the best ways to weave strong bonds,” Johnstone said. “Never doubt your wisdom or doubt its necessity. This world needs your brilliant mind and your open heart to set it free.”
Johnstone, who also studied book arts on campus and worked as an assistant at F.W. Olin Library, knew as a high school student that college would be a transformational experience.
“I was right in high school, my world has been transformed, and myself right along with it,” Johnstone said.
Sunday’s ceremony began with a welcome from Mills College Dean Beth Kochly just after the Campanil bells tolled 11 a.m. Faculty representing five Northeastern colleges took seats on stage after graduates had taken their seats.
After Johnstone’s speech representing the 23 undergraduates who received their diplomas, Diya Wadhwani addressed the audience on behalf of the 34 graduate students.
Wadhwani, who earned her master’s in computer science from Khoury College, urged graduates to reflect not just on what they’ve learned, but how they’ve learned it.
“With light, truth and courage,” she said, referencing Northeastern’s motto. “Here we are, wiser and stronger.”
Wadhwani and Vikram Dhananjay Sawant, who received his master’s in engineering, received Laurel & Scroll 100 honors during the ceremony.
Commencement speaker Diane Gonzalez, vice president of technology and finance automation at Amazon, urged graduates to use defiance as a guiding principle as they take their next steps.
“My whole life I’ve been told, ‘You can’t. You shouldn’t or, no.’” Gonzalez said. “If people tell you that, don’t listen. Let me tell you how being defiant molded me into the person I am today.”
She talked about growing up as the child of migrant farm workers. Gonzalez’s mother had a second-grade education and her father a 10th-grade education, she said, which led them to believe that education was the key to success for their three children.
Born in Ohio, Gonzalez and her two brothers “wrestled with discrimination every day,” she said.
“I remember being ridiculed and beaten up daily for being Mexicans,” she said. “People had a certain image of where we belonged, and it wasn’t college.”
She described growing up in two worlds: her home, where the expectation was that she would go to college, and society, which assumed she would follow in her parents’ footsteps and be content with working in the fields.
“If you’ve ever worked in the fields, you know that the work is extremely hard, backbreaking work,” she said. “It’s nothing you would want for yourself or your children, but that was the expectation for first-generation immigrants.”
A strong math student, Gonzalez was nonetheless placed in a vocational program in high school. But Gonzalez decided to do all of the homework for the harder math class over Christmas break so she could be reassigned to that course.
Gonzalez’s determination never wavered. She fought to attend her college of choice, where she was told she would never earn a degree in math, but she did. After graduating, she was advised against pursuing a career in engineering — but again she forged ahead, starting as a software engineer at Hewlett-Packard.
“If I had listened to everyone that told me I couldn’t go to college, I wouldn’t have gone,” Gonzalez said. “And if I had listened to everyone that told me to steer clear of engineering, I wouldn’t have become a vice president of engineering at Amazon, and I most certainly would not be standing here today before you.”
After her remarks James Genone, senior vice chancellor for learning strategy, presented Gonzalez with a citation for her work empowering high-potential employees.
“Through mentorship, advocacy and example, you are nurturing the next generation of technology leaders and broadening pathways to opportunity,” Genone said.
“You are innovators,” said Daniel Sachs, regional dean for the Oakland campus, “problem-solvers and change-makers and whatever you choose to do, your future is only limited by your imagination. I encourage you to rise to every challenge and lift others as you fly.”
The commencement ceremony concluded with graduates waving wands that released colorful strips of “Flutter Fetti” and a mariachi band leading them to a celebratory reception, as Paws danced in a gown and mortarboard.