"Are You Ready to be Extraordinary?": Class of 2026 Celebrates Commencement

A steady rain fell across the Northfield Mount Hermon campus as friends and family of the Class of 2026 gathered beneath the big tent on Thorndike Lawn for the 143rd NMH Commencement ceremony. Faculty and the 188 graduating seniors and postgraduates, a canopy of umbrellas held aloft, soon streamed down from Chapel Hill to join them.

As they shook the moisture from their mortarboards and took their seats before the stage, Head of School Brian Hargrove looked out over the crowd and smiled.

"Welcome to New England," he quipped. "At least it's not snowing!"

That sense of light-hearted gratitude — expressed by Hargrove and countless other students, faculty, and staff members over the course of three days — underpinned the entirety of Commencement weekend, as the Class of ’26 bid farewell to their home on the hill and prepared for their next great adventure.

Commencement Ceremony

Hargrove opened the ceremony by reflecting on the legacy of the school's founder, D.L. Moody, and the precedent he set for NMH.

"His whole life was given to the notion that one person can make a profound difference," Hargrove said. "Someone who did not even complete an elementary education … established this school 150 years ago to disrupt privilege, not to perpetuate it. That was not the normative behavior in 1879. The power that D.L. Moody modeled for us [was] the power of love coupled with a great education."

He thanked parents and guardians of the Class of 2026 for entrusting NMH to guide their children towards adulthood and acknowledged the work staff members put into organizing the commencement proceedings, before handing things over to the Class of 2026 orator, Anthony McNamara.

"Graduation is almost exclusively a celebration of 'lasts,' but it doesn't have to be," McNamara told the crowd. Instead, he focused on the many "firsts" that he and his classmates shared, from the awkward opening days of 9th grade through their accomplishments in the classroom, on the field and stage, and within the campus community.

"'Firsts' all hold one thing in common: They're chaotic, unpredictable," he said. "'Firsts' may seem scary, but they make life interesting."

McNamara encouraged his classmates to savor each first as if it might be the last and to strive to live up to their full potential.

"I want to see you at the World Cup, on Broadway, in Hollywood, in the Oval Office, on the Moon. I want to see your name next to the cure to cancer, next to a massive feat of engineering, next to a life-saving drug," said McNamara. "I want to experience the first time pointing your name out to a friend and saying, 'I went to school with this person!' So, Class of 2026, this is the first and last time I will ask this: Are you ready to be extraordinary?"

Commencement speaker Dr. Karin Kimbrough '86, the chief economist at LinkedIn, related her own experiences as a student at NMH, noting how its diverse, multicultural population gave her confidence in her own identity.

"Coming to NMH opened my world," Kimbrough told the graduates. "There was an unwavering sense that there was room here for everyone to contribute."

She praised the Class of 2026 for their multitude of talents and offered several pieces of advice as they prepared for the next leg of their life's journey.

"I stand here as an NMH graduate who planned to be a veterinarian," she said. "Random and unexpected events will happen to you and your plan: Some events will be new opportunities that you know right away you should grab on to; some events will be setbacks or outright failures that shake your confidence and redirect you. When your plan doesn't work out — and believe me, at some point it won't — that is the time to trust in yourself."

Kimbrough urged the Class of 2026 to "lean into your humanity," noting that no amount of emerging technology will replace the empathy, curiosity, and resilience that NMH helped instill in them. "Your greatest tool in life will not be a new technology, it will be you: your head, your heart, and your hand."

She advised the graduates to center authenticity and faith in their values in all they do. "You are graduating into a world that has problems but also has a tremendous amount of promise. Trust yourself to be resilient and flexible in a world of rapid change, and wherever you go from here, find a community you care about and give it your all to make your mark. Your uniquely human qualities will be exactly what shapes the world."

The graduates then took to the stage one by one to receive their diplomas, cheered on by family, friends, and faculty. The new graduates were welcomed into the NMH alumni network by Monie Hardwick '74, chair of the board of trustees.

"Fifty-two years ago, I sat here like you, and while I left NMH, NMH never left me," Hardwick said. "Many of you have noticed that when you return to campus, Brian and your teachers say, 'Welcome home.' That's how I still get greeted after all these years, and over the course of a lifetime, I've come to know what that welcome really offers: the love of an extraordinary community and the chance to serve it.

"That's what I hope for you as I formally declare you members of the Northfield Mount Hermon Alumni Association and tell you once again on behalf of NMH: 'Welcome home.'"

Recognition Assembly

Commencement weekend kicked off on Friday, May 22, with the annual Recognition Assembly, where members of the graduating class were recognized for their achievements.

Awards and prizes were presented across the academic curriculum, as well as for contributions to campus life and the NMH community. In addition, this year's Cum Laude Society inductees were recognized, and several faculty members were awarded fellowships.

[See the complete list of senior award winners below.]

The awards portion of the event culminated with the announcement of this year's Cambridge Prize recipient. The Cambridge Prize, NMH's most prestigious senior award, was established in 1887 by students from England's University of Cambridge to recognize an outstanding member of the graduating class.

This year's Cambridge Prize went to Hisu Kang. "The work I've done for the community here wasn't with the purpose of trying to win anything but in the spirit of leaving a place better than you found it,” said Kang after the assembly. “Thank you to all the people who made it happen and who believed in me."

Salutatorian Miller Ming concluded the assembly by offering a heartfelt reflection on how NMH helped him find confidence in his own ideas and appreciate learning for its own sake.

"Coming from a smaller city 80 miles west of Shanghai, China, I was extraordinarily timid when I first came to the United States," said Ming. "I felt the strong urgency to quote someone; someone known who was larger, wiser, and well-recognized, so that I didn't just look 'cooler' but also felt more worthy of being heard."

At NMH, however, Ming said he realized that meaning is derived from the "first-person pronoun" and the experiences one gathers over the course of one's life.

"If I have to leave one message behind, I will say this: Start quoting yourself," Ming said. "When anyone around you leaves you questioning your confidence, tell yourself that your value requires no proof. When hardships in college and beyond make you doubt the rationality behind your dreams, don't rush to quote others for their advice: Your very own presence deserves to be quoted.

"Dear classmates," he concluded, "I hope NMH will forever remain a place that grants us an unconditional courage and audacity to 'quote ourselves,' wherever we go and whatever we do."

Baccalaureate Ceremony

On Saturday, the Class of 2026 reconvened in Memorial Chapel to pay homage to several longtime staff and faculty members who are retiring or moving on to other opportunities after this year.

This year's retirees include Rich Messer P'06, '13, '16, the longtime director of dining services; Roberto Irurueta, the assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Oaknoll dorm head; and science teacher Karen Jodoin.

During the ceremony, Messer offered a reflection on his nearly four decades heading up food services for NMH. He recounted working summers in the NMH dining hall as a high school student, meeting his wife Sandy on campus, and raising their children, all of whom are NMH alumni.

"NMH gave me a chance," Messer said. "They gave me an opportunity to make something my own."

True to his personality, Messer mixed levity with thoughtful reflections, joking that "normally when someone leaves, we hire a new person to replace them. I'm leaving and they had to hire an entire company to replace me."

He finished by encouraging the Class of 2026 to find a path they are passionate about. "Have a job that you love so much, you'd do it even if they couldn't pay you. For many years, that's the job I've had. My hope for you is that you'll reflect not only on this place but also on the people here at NMH that have helped to create your experience."

Emily Sun echoed that sentiment in her valedictory address, meditating on the passage of time and the singular experiences her class shared in their years at NMH.

"To me, what made NMH and my experience here truly meaningful was never simply the classes or the opportunities: It was the people," Sun said. "Truly, as I stand here today, it is not an individual achievement, but evidence of what a community can do to a person. If I was to fast-forward to years from now, I don't think we'll remember every assignment or test score, but I think we will remember how people made us feel and who we became while we were together."

She thanked her classmates and teachers for challenging, inspiring, and influencing her, and called on the Class of 2026 to keep the lessons they learned at NMH close to their heart.

"In the doorway between who we were and who we are yet to become, we have much to carry away from this place," she said. "Pieces of this campus and pieces of each other. I am forever grateful that, for a brief moment of our lives, we found each other here."

Words of Wisdom

As the Class of 2026 streamed out from beneath the Commencement tent into the waiting arms of friends and relatives, the excitement was palpable. The rain mingled with tears on many faces: tears of bittersweet nostalgia for the past, of the pride of present accomplishments, and of the uncertainty and excitement of what lies ahead.

For some, it was a surreal feeling. "Being a four-year senior, going through each stage of my high school process, and now just all of a sudden we're here," said Iggy Phenix. "It feels like there should be another day after this, but there isn't."

Reminiscing on the messages that stuck with him as a student, theater director Eddie Yankow '13 advised the graduates to "learn to love learning, and, if you can, take a class just because it's interesting to you."

"Don't take yourself so seriously," advised Spanish teacher Julianna Cruz Martinez. "Life is important, but you should also remember to enjoy it. And keep learning Spanish!"

Kyle Kretzer, director of the Center for Academic Strategies and Achievement, encouraged students to "stand up for what you believe in, even if you're standing alone."

Asked for her thoughts, athletic trainer Samantha Hahn Clarke silently peered across campus at the empty dormitories. "This is a hard class to let go of," she mused. "I would tell them: Be bold, be brave, be you, do good, and take care of each other. That'll carry you through."

— Max Hunt

Photos by Lindsey Topham and Oliver Scott.

See more scenes from the 2026 Commencement weekend on Flickr.

The following prizes were awarded during the 2026 Recognition Assembly to seniors who displayed excellence in academics, contributions to campus life, and overall impact on the NMH community.

• The Appley Award: Wilder Pritham
• The Bannwart Choir Prize: Henry Ormont, Charlotte Relyea-Strawn
• The Baxter Prize in Classics: Grace Huang
• The Frank Stanley Beveridge Award: Jane Namusisi
• The C. Russell Bragg Memorial Prize in Environmental Studies: Yuhan Emily Sun
• The C. Russell Bragg Memorial Prize in Social Science: Hisu Kang
• The Frank and Alice Chutter Memorial Award: Parker Newman
• The Marshall E. Climan Award: Niayla Curley
• The Albert C. Clough Award: Hiba Azzouz
• The Colonel Walter Scott Prize in Linear Algebra: Yuhan Emily Sun
• The Mary Davis Dining Service Prize: Lucas Alvan
• The Jo Dorchester Award: Ahnkai Liebert
• The Edward and William Rhodes Prize in Economics: Alexander Baron
• The David Garbose Memorial Award: Grace Huang
• The Florence Chapman Haslun Prize: Anthony McNamara
• The Head of School Award: Anna Lazorina, Bryanna May, James Bechter, Sopriye Koko, Temistocles Metz
• The Harriet Cutler Heiser Memorial Award: Jayhee Lee
• The Marie Hood Award: Charlotte Relyea-Strawn
• The Henry R. Huntting Literary Prize: George Ning
• The Ralph E. Jillson Award: Cody Vassar
• The Thora E. Johnson Award: Elise Pinkham
• The John O. Mehrkens Award: Charlotte Relyea-Strawn
• The Joseph T. Elliott Jr. Prize in Music: Caleb Chung
• The Kinmay Tang Award: Serafina Wilson
• The Laubach Family Award: James Wareham
• The Elizabeth Leyden ’22 Music Award: Allen Chen, Sarah Keator
• The Proctor Publications Prize: Anna Lazorina
• The Michael Antonio Memorial Award: Elijah Youmans
• The Robert P. Weis Mathematics Prize: Anna Kalynchuk
• The Mcburney Work Hour Prize: Ceylan Kutman
• The Mary Ellen Peller Memorial Award: Eliza Jessen
• The Shaffer-Mehrkens Religious Studies Award: Lang Miller Ming
• The Newman Family Award: William Higgs ’26, Larea Jean-Ross
• The Nettie M. Johnson Memorial Award: Zahra Saidi
• The NMH Alumni Association Award: Audrey Kashi-Fleming
• The Thompson Art Prize: Niayla Curley
• The Piscuskas Day Student Prize: Anthony McNamara
• Vitold Piscuskas Sportsmanship Award: Spencer Hirschey
• The Arthur D. Platt Mathematics Award: Lorcan Purcell
• The Art Purchase Prize: Lang Miller Ming
• The Rhode Island School of Design Annual Art Award: Ruixi Ivy Bu
• The Lynde Award for Excellence in Advanced Physics: Grace Huang
• The NMH Resident Leader Award: Spencer Hirschey, Se Ryoung Olivia Yim
• The Gordon Paul Smith Prize for Excellence in History or Social Sciences: Maren Batchelder
• The Joseph Allen Art Prize: Serafina Wilson
• The Etta May Schweiss Prize: Eliza Jessen
• The Richard H. Valentine Award: James Bechter, Olivia Fleming
• The Vivian Dandridge White Prize: Oralolia Koko, Sopriye Koko
• The Robert Cade Wilson Scholar Award: Gia Bao Le
• The David Michael Walker Prize in Music: Tianxin Aurora Song
• The Alice B. and John E. Baldwin Award: Grace Huang
• The Peterson Memorial Prize for Advanced Chemistry: Julia Cosentino
• The NMH Dance Prize: Niayla Curley
• The Phyllis Tournier Spanish Prize: Minxian Michelle Tang