The University of Chicago’s 2026 Class Day was a celebration of community and accomplishment.
Selected by their peers, College fourth-year students Matteo Caloia, Ana Emilia Davalos and Vincent Li addressed their classmates, as well as friends and family in attendance, during the June 5 event, which kicked off Convocation weekend. The ceremony also included remarks from featured speaker David Auburn, AB’91.
Melina Hale, dean of the College, congratulated the Class of 2026 on their accomplishments—andt what they will go on to achieve.
“You have shown inquisitiveness and dedication in your learning, compassion and advocacy towards one another, and the pursuit of knowledge that is truly inspirational,” she said.
Each of the students' messages were unique but also intertwined—reflecting on the communities and accomplishments of members of the Class of 2026.
Li took his fellow graduates back to 2022 and their first day on campus. Specifically, he recalled the class picture taken on Stagg Field and how each member looked more like a dot than a person.
“Looking back at the past four years,” Li said, “I see a glaring mosaic—each piece a person, each piece a story. You taught me that being seen is worth more than fitting in, that to make a mosaic, you must ruin the picture first. Once you know how, you can do it anywhere.”
Davalos spoke of the awe that she felt about UChicago and her College experience, stemming from the knowledge her fellow graduates gained through their classes as well as “the people who expanded our worlds.”
To her, the University opened up a realm of infinite possibilities.
“Four years have taught me that there is no limit to our learning and that there is no limit to how far knowledge will take us,” Davalos said. “So share this thing that is being a University of Chicago student with those that you encounter as you move on.”
In his address, Caloia looked at the College community in its entirety. Specifically, he pointed out the difference in what it means to be a college graduate and a graduate of UChicago’s College.
“It means knowing that ideas matter enough to be tested, that people matter enough to be heard, and that the life of the mind is not an escape or retreat from the world, but a way of engaging with it more honestly.”
In the keynote address, Tony and Pulitzer award-winning playwright David Auburn, AB’91, recounted his own journey from UChicago as one of success but also uncertainty.
Auburn told students that uncertainty was “a gift” that should be welcomed.
“Unpredictable things will happen to you, things that you cannot fully control. I want to argue today that this is OK. It’s not something to try to avoid. It may be something to actively embrace.”
Auburn originally came to UChicago with the intention of studying political science. He admitted he was “a lousy” political science major and was a lot more interested in the Chicago theater scene. A member of Off-Off Campus, Auburn said the turning point in his College career came one summer when he had to choose whether to go to Scotland and perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Off-Off, or pursue an internship with the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon.
Off to Scotland he went—embarking on what would become an illustrious career as a playwright.
While he didn’t ascend straight to Broadway—holding jobs writing for an automotive company and VH1 TV’s “Pop-Up Video,” Auburn finally did make it. His 2001 play “Proof” won both the Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Auburn told the Class of 2026: “At multiple points along whatever journey you take after you leave this campus, you will experience struggle and exhilaration.” This paradox, while necessary, is what he said makes life so interesting. “It’s a gift because certainty is boring.”
“I hope you will try to embrace this not just because it is inevitable, but because it is a good thing,” Auburn said. “Because it means that joy and fulfillment and exhilaration are not things you defer to some later point in your life, after you’ve paid your dues and everything has worked out. You can and will have them all along the way.”
Recipients of the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards, believed to be the nation’s oldest prize for undergraduate teaching, were also celebrated at the event. They included Profs. Fredrik Albritton Jonsson, Ryan Coyne, Nick Feamster and Alexander J. Ruthenburg.
Fourth-year Daniel Kind was recognized for his tireless efforts in homelessness reform and advocacy with the Hugo F. Sonnenschein Medal of Excellence while 16 undergraduates received the Howell Murray Alumni Association Award. Maroon Athletics also recognized the on- and off-the-field efforts of student-athletes Emil Grantcharov, won the Amos Alonzo Stagg Medal; and Mary Stuart Kerrigan who was the recipient of the Gertrude Dudley Medal.
Convocation weekend will continue June 6 with the University-wide and divisional diploma ceremonies taking place across campus. Learn more at the Convocation website.
