Graduates—all 630 of them—Celebrate Four Years at Vassar

“Many of us here, we can’t imagine what the future holds,” Maldonado, an author and educator, told the graduates. “Whatever your future holds, know this: You are your ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

He then described how, upon moving to campus from his home in a Brooklyn housing project LIFE magazine had dubbed “one of the 10 worst neighborhoods in the United States,” his single mom had seen fit to present him with a baseball bat to defend himself against potentially hostile older students.

Watch Torrey Maldonado's poignant, yet humorous Commencement address.

Maldonado recalled how his mother, Carmen Lilly Negron, instructed him, “If anyone comes in through your window, hit them.” This made him laugh, he said, because he knew it was unlikely he’d need this gift. “Now, this is Vassar. We need a bat under our bed, right?” he joked.

Eventually, Maldonado came to know Vassar as a place of openness and opportunity, and his mother was able to laugh about having gifted him a useless weapon. But that’s not to say Negron hadn’t given him anything of use during his time at Vassar.

“My mom, she was sort of my Star Wars Yoda. Not just ’cause she was short,” he explained. “She would tell me quotes that sounded like Yoda was speaking. Yoda’s ‘In a dark place, a little more knowledge lights our way’ [is just like] Ma telling me Maya Angelou’s quote, “Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.” That’s another valuable attitude as we go into our futures.”

Maldonado noted that throughout his 30-year career, “the pen, words, education have been my weapons. As both a teacher and a published author, I’ve been reminded that the power is not in wielding a bat or any weapon of crass destruction. But the power is in wielding weapons of mass instruction—stories, words, connectivity.”

Before leaving the podium, Maldonado said he was presenting the graduates with a gift, which would not be a baseball bat but “whatever made you feel luminous at Vassar”—be it a special interest, skill, anything that lifts them up and could, as they make their way in the world, lift others.

“Ask yourself, what lights you up? Because that lights our world up,” Maldonado explained. “And as you share your gifts, you’re going to make other people aware of their weapons, of their gifts. As you help others rise, it’s going to help all of us rise. It’ll help you rise. It’ll keep you being your ancestors’ wildest dreams, and it’ll help step you into futures you can’t imagine, like me, standing here before you at this podium. At the beginning, I asked you, please point to somebody who helped you rise. In the future, be that somebody.”

In his invocation, Reverend Samuel Speers, the soon-to-retire Associate Dean of the College for Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices, noted that some graduates were without those very people. “We feel especially our connection with all those who cannot gather with us in person—including the families of our students from around the world for whom travel is not possible at this time—but whose joy in you and what you have accomplished is not dimmed by distance,” he said.

President Elizabeth H. Bradley also acknowledged the challenging political climate in which the graduating students had had to function throughout the year and said that “staying in conversation is really the strongest way forward. I’ve seen this happen in your class again and again for four years, and it gives me immense hope in these challenging times.” Bradley closed with a poem by Mary Oliver that describes “a thread that can bring us back to who we are,” and told the graduates, “I hope you'll remember, there's always a thread—a connection—between you, your friends at Vassar, and with Vassar itself. You have worked hard over your time to create that thread, and it is strong. Please stay connected, come back and enjoy campus, and in your difficult and in your joyous times ahead, I hope you will keep close your Vassar memories and those relationships.”

Outgoing Vassar Student Association President Emily Doucet ’25 continued this theme by describing what she found when she surveyed classmates about their favorite Vassar memories. “These memories, while all different, shared one common trend: They were all about connection,” she said. “Not grades, not internships, not résumés and job applications—but connection. To people, to places, to little moments that made Vassar feel like home.

“And to those who feel like they didn’t accomplish something like a big thesis or winning an award—you’ve impacted Vassar just as much,” she continued. “Your laughter in the Deece mattered. Your late-night walks with a friend who needed someone mattered. The quiet ways you showed up—for your roommates, your orgs, your classmates—mattered. There is no metric, no résumé line, that can quantify the kind of community we’ve built here together. There is nothing that can encapsulate the people you have impacted, and the core memories you have created for the people who love you and are proud of the person you have become.”

The graduates then heard from two more alums, Board of Trustees Chair Sharon Davidson Chang ’84, P’19, and Monica Vachher ’77, President of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College.

Chang told a story about her toddler granddaughter Chloè, whose wobbly steps sometimes led to falls, bumps, and tears—but not for long. Chang said Chloè’s resilience served as a wake-up call to live her life differently. “You see, over time, my trips, my falls, my bumps, my bruises often became battle scars and unintentionally morphed into a more cynical, judgmental, and pessimistic view of life,” Chang said. “I would often hold onto things, allowing the hard stuff of life to calcify.” Instead of doing that, Chang urged the graduates to “embrace the awkwardness of your wobbly steps and know that they’ll become steady,” and, meanwhile, seek support from “our lifelong Vassar community.”

“As of today, you are each an essential part of a dazzling community of over 42,000 Vassar alums, and each of you will bring added brilliance to it,” said Vachher. “So, as you depart to make your distinct and distinctive impressions upon your world, I hope you will always find time to connect with Vassar, and that you will cherish the special bond that ties us all together, forevermore.”

Personifying the day’s recurring theme of connectedness to Vassar was the Redstone family, which included new graduate Nicholas Redstone ’25; his sister, Gillian Redstone ’21; and mom Linda Williams Redstone ’86, P’21, ’25.

“I feel like I’m joining a very large and close community, so I’m very happy about that,” said Nicholas.

“I’m super, super proud of my brother, and it’s so amazing to be here with my mom, who went here too,” said his sister Gillian. “Being back here, I feel so comforted and warm to know that this is such a special place—not just to me, but my whole family.”

Photo Album/Slideshow

Commencement speaker Torrey Maldonado ’96 appeared on the Conversations @ the Salt Line podcast while he was on campus. Hear what the author and educator had to say.

Seniors enjoyed a host of fun activities in the week leading up to Commencement. View a gallery of images.