Memorable moments from the 2026 Philly-area commencement speeches

This college graduation season has been a star-studded affair.

While some universities have tapped students, administrators, and trustees to take on oratorial duties, several Philly-area universities have rolled out the red carpet for high-profile commencement speakers.

The list includes Emmy-winning actors, former NFL stars, state senators, best-selling authors, Hollywood screenwriters, and business leaders.

Here are memorable commencement speeches and moments from this grad season.

Among the first high-profile orators to roll into the region was Colman Domingo, a West Philly native who started out as a journalism major at Temple in 1987 before dropping out in 1991 to pursue his acting career.

During his commencement speech on May 6, he reflected on the lessons and friendships that were forged at Temple, ultimately leading to the ambitious leaps he would take in the decades since he first stepped on campus.

Domingo encouraged the graduating class to embrace all that Philly made them, and to maintain their integrity at all cost, no matter the bid.

“Go out into this world as your whole self. Your Philly self. Your Temple self. Your complicated, brilliant, and unstoppable self,” Domingo said. “And when they ask you where you learned to be this resilient, this compassionate, this ready, tell them, ‘I’m Temple made, baby.’”

On May 9, Lamar “Soup” Campbell, who serves as the director of personnel development for the Seattle Seahawks, stopped by Cheyney University to talk about the formation of legacy.

He referenced Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, and other luminaries who fought for Black Americans’ education and access at a time when they were “denied” of those privileges.

“When Cheyney was founded, our ancestors were denied education. Denied opportunity. Denied recognition,” Campbell said. “But they built something anyway.”

Given Cheyney’s place as the nation’s first Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU), Campbell — a Chester native — wanted the graduating class to recognize they are now a part of that lineage.

“Cheyney is the beginning of a legacy that changed everything,” Campbell said. “Before there were hundreds of HBCUs, before there were hundreds of Black scholars in classrooms around the country, before opportunity was even something we could imagine, there was Cheyney.”

Former Philadelphia Eagle Troy Vincent, now serving as executive vice president of football operations at the NFL, addressed the graduating class at Franklin & Marshall College on May 9.

Nearly a third of the attending class, according to Vincent, were student athletes, which made his reference to late-night film sessions, early morning reps, and unrecognized discipline that much more transferable to the crowd.

“You’ve learned how to prepare, how to adjust, how to persevere. Same training, different arenas,” Vincent said.

Before Christopher Markus, who wrote Marvel behemoths like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, took the stage on Sunday, students walked around College Avenue to ask the class of 2026 what their favorite Marvel characters and films are in the larger cinematic universe.

During his commencement speech, the Emmy-winning screenwriter implored the graduate class to embrace the very roles of the characters he’s penned.

Instead of focusing on their individual feats or trekking along separate paths, Markus said to, well, assemble. “Alone we forget we have meaning. Alone we forget we have power. But together, we’re stronger. Together, we have a voice,” he said.

There are still a number of high-profile speakers heading to the region this spring.

On Tuesday, NBC Today co-anchor Craig Melvin will head to Villanova, while 15-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Tracy Davidson journeys to Ursinus College campus for commencement on Friday.

On Saturday, the University of Delaware will welcome Mariah Calagione, cofounder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

The following day, Domingo returns to the region on Sunday to accept another honorary degree from Swarthmore College. He will be joined by American University president Jonathan Alger, Judith Sandalow, longtime CEO of Children’s Law Center, and environmental educator Talia Young, who are all alums of the liberal arts college.

On June 11, Moogega Cooper, planetary protection lead for the Mars rover Perseverance, will grace Drexel’s graduation stage at Citizens Bank Park.