fbpx

Well Said: The sounds of Winter Commencement

On this week’s podcast, we celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of the more than 1,500 graduates recognized at Winter Commencement.

A graduate walks toward the Smith Center
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill holds Winter Commencement on Dec. 15, 2019 at the Dean E. Smith Center. Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz presided over the ceremony. Grammy Award-winning professor Bill Ferris delivered the University’s 2019 Winter Commencement address. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

More than 1,500 undergraduate, graduate and professional students turned their tassels Sunday to signify their graduation at Winter Commencement.

The celebration acknowledged more than just the students, as commencement speaker Bill Ferris reminded the graduates to consider the contributions they have received from friends and family.

“When you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, you know he had some help getting there,” said Ferris, a two-time Grammy Award-winner and beloved Carolina professor. “Each of us are like that turtle, and the families and special friends who helped us arrive at this place, we are celebrating today.”

Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz presided over the ceremony, which was his first as chancellor after he was named to the position Dec. 13. He called upon the words of Fred Rogers, who defined a hero as someone who responds to the needs of the world, to inspire the graduates to be heroes of whom their hometowns would be proud.

On this week’s episode, we share the excitement surrounding the Winter Commencement ceremony and the thoughtful advice graduates received.

This episode of Well Said can be heard in the player above, on SoundCloud, Spotify or wherever podcasts are played.

Join us every Wednesday for Well Said to hear from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Each week, you’ll learn what’s going on in classrooms, labs and around campus, and how it pertains to the local, national and international headlines.

Read a transcript of this episode