2025 Commencement Speech Competition

Columbia University will host the All-University Commencement Wednesday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m.

TC graduates are eligible to attend and will process together to their seats.

This unique competition is for TC students who are due to graduate in May 2025. As you may know, each school's Dean or President makes a short statement to present their graduates during the ceremony on CU's main campus. President Bailey has asked that we invite 2025 graduates to write and submit presentation statements which we will have vetted by a member of the faculty, the President's speech writer and President Bailey. The selected presentation statement will be read by President Bailey at Commencement and the student author will be credited.

Presentation statement guidelines:

• Submitted statements must be original work written by the submitting student
• The statement is typically 1-2 minutes in length (130-260 words).
• It must be inclusive of all TC graduates' area of study (health, psychology, education)
• There is one concluding line that the speech must include (we will provide).

• Statement should include humor, pop culture references, and current events.

Please view the video clip below from the 2022 ceremony so you can have a sense of what the atmosphere is like.

If this is a project that you would like to take part in, please complete this form. Submissions are due by Friday, April 11, 2025.

Any questions? Email us at [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Columbia University, 500 W 116th S, New York, United States