Simmons University

🌈 Happy Pride Month from Simmons University!

This month and throughout the year, we celebrate our LGBTQ+ community and the diverse voices that help shape our vibrant learning community. Together, we reaffirm our shared commitment to inclusion, leadership, and belonging for all. 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

🎓✨ Celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the Class of 2026!

On May 12, Simmons University hosted the Senior Academic and Leadership Awards Ceremony and Senior/Faculty Lunch to recognize individual members of the Class of 2026 for their outstanding leadership and academic achievements.

Congratulations to all of our award recipients! We cannot wait to see how these leaders shape the future! 🌟

📸 Photos by Natalya Lavrenov.

Daniella Oyindamola Adeshina ’26, our undergraduate student Commencement speaker, encouraged the Class of 2026 to reflect on who they were when they began their studies at Simmons.

“There were moments when things felt uncertain. Moments when the pressure felt quiet, but heavy. But we still showed up. We smiled. We said we were fine. Because strength does not always look loud. Sometimes strength looks like staying. Sometimes strength looks like trying again.”

As graduates “step back into the unknown,” Adeshina urged them to do so with gratitude and faith, and to remember that “even in uncertainty, there is purpose.”

🔗 Read more about highlights from the 121st Commencement ceremonies at the link in the comments

📸 Photo by Ivana Lucero, Grad Images.

Rachel “Rae” Ilyce Otero ’26MS, our morning Commencement ceremony graduate student speaker, found unexpected joys at Simmons, including “a diverse set of brilliant professors in my field," and “a community with such creative-minded people."

Otero shared the “early-life crisis” she experienced after completing her undergraduate degree and not knowing what to do next. After quitting her plan to teach middle school English, Otero pivoted to library and information science and found where she was meant to be.

Her reminder to the Class of 2026? “There is always time to grow, to learn, to dream, to quit, to fail, and to start over... know that you are ready, and the world is waiting.” 🌍 💙

🔗 Read more about highlights from the 121st Commencement ceremonies at the link in the comments!

📸 Photo by Ivana Lucero, Grad Images.