Honoring the Class of 2023

The Barnard community gathered at Radio City Music Hall to cheer on the graduating seniors

On Wednesday, May 17, the College celebrated more than 760 graduates at the 131st Commencement ceremony.

Emmy Award-winning writer, creator, producer, and actor Lena Waithe delivered a rousing Commencement speech about balancing successes with failures.

“Here’s what I know to be true: In your life, you will know success and you will know failure,” said Waithe. “They are both equally important to your growth as a human being. It’s called balance — do not chase one while trying to run away from the other. You must embrace both, with open arms.”

The College awarded its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction, to Waithe and three other luminaries: Lynsey Addario, a career photojournalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who has covered conflict, humanitarian crises, and women’s issues around the Middle East and Africa; María Magdalena CamposPons, whose work in photography, performance, painting, sculpture, film, and video can be viewed in over 30 permanent museum collections worldwide; and Loretta J. Ross, professor at Smith College in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender and a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.

President Sian Leah Beilock told the graduates, “You are entering the world at a fascinating moment. And it’s at the exact moment so many critical fights are being waged: on climate change, freedom of expression, on the future of work, on diversity. There is an enormous leadership gap to step into. If you feel overwhelmed — or have that dreaded feeling you may not belong — remind yourself that [this] feeling is normal. We all go through it.”

President Beilock presented Myesha Choudhury ’23 with the Frank Gilbert Bryson Prize, an award voted on by classmates to the senior who contributed to Barnard the most over four years. And Sharmie Azurel ’23 and Ainsley Walker ’23 shared the Alicia L. Lawrence Memorial Award, which “honors a student who has made significant contributions to the College and who exemplifies Alicia’s values and honors her memory by leading with light and strength.”

Provost and Dean of the Faculty Linda A. Bell applauded the Class of 2023 on behalf of Barnard’s faculty. Senior Class President Myesha Choudhury ’23 gave the “Charge to the Class of 2023” speech. Frances “Fritzie” Schwentker ’23 presented academic reflections, and Victoria Cadostin ’23 shared the senior experience.

Cheryl Glicker Milstein ’82, P’14, Chair of the Barnard Board of Trustees, welcomed the graduates into a supportive alumnae community that is nearly 40,000 strong. “That incredible Barnard legacy — the same one that convinced you to apply — now belongs to you, too. You are our ambassadors,” said Glicker Milstein. “You are ‘Barnard Ready’ to take on the world.” B