At Baccalaureate, graduates are urged to honor the places and moments that shape them

For graduating seniors, commencement is a celebration they will always remember – an event that marks an end and a beginning. In a poetic address to graduating seniors, Alexander Nemerov, a distinguished Stanford scholar and this year’s Baccalaureate speaker, encouraged them to consider not only momentous occasions but ordinary ones as well.

“What are such moments?” Nemerov asked graduates and their families and friends gathered Saturday morning at Frost Amphitheater for the student-led, multi-faith ceremony, which acknowledges the spiritual rewards of education and is organized by the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life.

“They are not ‘special.’ They are not occasions such as this one; they are not triumphs or tragedies. All those have their special character, but this is not that. I think instead of what is unsung, of no notice, that stays in the mind, patient as a shore of stones,” he said.

Nemerov, a beloved professor of art and art history known for bringing the past to life in a way that offers wisdom and inspiration for the present, said such unsung moments, which he called “not time,” can return as memories “years and decades later,” bringing us back to “the always of ourselves,” a state of “strange wisdom and peace.”

I think instead of what is unsung, of no notice, that stays in the mind, patient as a shore of stones.”
Alexander Nemerov

Nemerov, who is the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities, described a few such moments in his own life – an overheard conversation on a Ferris wheel, a chance encounter on a shared car ride, a feeling evoked by a spoken line from Shakespeare – and how recalling them makes time stand still and invokes an enduring wonder for the preciousness of life.

A place for you here, always

While Nemerov encouraged graduating seniors to hold close the moments that transcend time, Noah Hao-Lin Tan, ’25, who delivered the Baccalaureate student reflection, invited them to consider place as well.

Tan recalled receiving his admissions packet, which was emblazoned with five words that would follow him throughout his four years at Stanford: “A place for you here.”

As our friends and mentors have created a place for us here, my wish is for us to go out and do that for others.”
Noah Hao-Lin Tan

Tan shared how, after overcoming fears of not belonging, he found his own place at Stanford, including joining the rowing team and discovering some of the many unique course offerings. “If you have a passion for comedic timing and performance-based humor, TAPS 127W: Introduction to Clown proves there is a place for you here,” he said.

He also applauded how some of his peers made their own places, too, that transformed into vibrant communities for learning and laughter.

“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from my experience here, it’s that when there lacks a place for you, you can always create one,” Tan said, sharing some examples, such as a new seminar at the Stanford Law School to a sing-along Kenny G night at Jerry House.

Tan urged his classmates to remember this and continue creating new places – and with them, new opportunities.

“If you want to create justice, seek out places of injustice: there will be a place for you there,” Tan said. “If you want to innovate, seek out places that languish in the routine: there will be a place for you there. If you want to have purpose, seek out places that lack direction: there will be a place for you there. And lastly, when you open new doors, hold them open for the people behind you. As our friends and mentors have created a place for us here, my wish is for us to go out and do that for others.”