Ohio State University’s 12,315 graduates were certainly the center of attention at spring commencement May 10. But moms were easily a close second.
Ohio State’s largest annual graduation ceremony fell on Mother’s Day this year, the first time since 2021.
Many of the ceremony’s speakers recognized the mothers and mother figures in attendance at Ohio Stadium.
“There are not many people who believe in us as deeply as a mother, an aunt, a grandmother or a sister does, and we’re deeply grateful,” Ohio State President Ravi Bellamkonda said during his remarks. “I certainly wouldn’t be here but for the efforts of my mother, and I am grateful.”
More than 1,000 graduates in the Class of 2026 are themselves moms or moms to be, according to Molly Ranz Calhoun, president and CEO of the Ohio State Alumni Association.
Ranz Calhoun told graduates that she sat in their same seats at Ohio Stadium 30 years earlier on her own commencement day. She chose to attend Ohio State because her mom was an alumna.
She remarked that she was torn her senior year of high school on whether to attend Ohio State or the University of Cincinnati.
Ranz Calhoun – as an obstinate teenager by her own admission – said her mother was not so conflicted.
“Molly, one of us has to leave town,” she recalled her mother telling her. Ohio State it was, a decision Ranz Calhoun said she’s been thanking her mom for ever since.
“Mom’s keep talking to your kids. They hear more than they will admit to,” Ranz Calhoun said. “And graduates, listen to your mother. You might be quoting her someday in a commencement speech.”
Though the moms in attendance were given their flowers by the commencement speakers, many were just happy to spend the day with their kid on their greatest day.
“I didn’t even realize that it was Mother’s Day,” said Jennifer Love, of Delaware, who carreid two bouquets of tulips for her graduate.
Love’s daughter, Chloe Kannally, graduated cum laude with a degree in fashion and retail studies. She is Love’s youngest child to graduate from college, a moment that she called “the biggest testament as a mother.”
“This day is about these amazing young people,” Love said.
Jennifer Roy, of West Chester, beamed standing with her son Rylan Petruk, who graduated with a finance degree.
“To be with him on Mother’s Day and his graduation day, it’s a complete blessing,” Roy said.
New OSU president addresses graduates
Sunday’s commencement ceremony also marked the conclusion of a tumultuous spring semester, which was complicated by the abrupt resignation of former university president Ted Carter after he admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a woman seeking public funds for her private business.
Bellamkonda, who was promoted from provost to Ohio State’s 18th president within days of Carter’s resignation, is now the third university president in four years.
But the day’s focus was not on the strength of the university or how Bellamkonda plans to rebuild trust. It was on the graduates and their many accomplishments.
“Excellence is a team sport, and this is true of many of life’s great achievements, and that includes this moment,” Bellamkonda said. “It belongs to all of you.”
Philanthropist and private investor E. Roe Stamps IV delivered the commencement address. Stamps is the co-founder of the Boston-based private equity and venture capital firm Summit Partners and the Stamps Scholars Program, a charitable initiative that provides scholarships to students at over three dozen universities worldwide.
Stamps urged the graduates to remember the stake that they have in the ongoing success of their new alma mater.
While the official “owners” of a university is the state, Stamps said that “the real owners of a great university are the alumni.”
That ownership should breed care and investment, Stamps said, noting that “nobody washes a rental car.”
Stamps called out to the graduates, asking, “Who owns this university?” to which they replied, “We do!”
“Mr. President,” Stamps said to Bellamkonda, “I’m pleased to introduce you to the new owners of the Ohio State University.”
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State graduates celebrate moms on new president’s first commencement day
Reporting by Sheridan Hendrix, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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