URBANA– The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign celebrated its largest ever graduating class this past weekend.
Tens of thousands of students, friends and families filled into Memorial Stadium Saturday morning for the Class of 2025 commencement ceremony.
U of I Chancellor Robert Jones told the graduates he’s excited to see where their journeys will take them.
“There is nothing, nothing in the world like getting to walk up on this stage to look out on a virtual sea of blue and orange,” Jones said. “You’ll notice that we don’t call it ‘graduation.’ We call it ‘commencement’ because this is the beginning of the next chapter of your own personal stories.”
Jones thanked the graduates for the sacrifices they made during the COVID-19 pandemic. He urged them to continue fostering a sense of community — and to prioritize being kind over impressing others.
“Our Illinois alums are most impressive not when they know the right answer, but when they choose, when they choose to do the right things, even in the most difficult of circumstances,” he said. “So now [it] is your turn: go change the world for the better.”
The commencement also represented one of Jones’ last official acts as chancellor. After nine years at the U of I, he’s set to depart campus later this summer to begin a new role as president at the University of Washington in Seattle.