Princeton’s Largest Ever Undergraduate Class Joins the Alumni Ranks

Transformative. Magical. Perfect. Those are some of the words that graduating Princeton students used to describe their time at the University shortly following the 279th Commencement at Princeton Stadium on May 26.

Princeton “allows everyone to grow and learn new things, and explore things they never thought they were interested in, and discover things about themselves too,” said Kayla Waitman ’25 *26, an electrical and computer engineering student.

Under sunny skies and surrounded by family and friends, 1,469 undergraduates — the largest class in Princeton history — and 668 master’s and Ph.D. graduates received their degrees. The Graduate School also honored its degree recipients a day earlier at the annual hooding ceremony on Cannon Green.

President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 presided over Commencement, and in a speech emphasizing the importance of courage, he told the graduates that he hopes their “journeys will contain many moments of brightness, celebration, and joy,” but he also cautioned that “they begin in troubled times, when our world is struggling to cope with partisan divisions, political violence, and rapid technological change.”

Valedictorian Daniel Yu ’26, an African American studies major, also touched upon this “moment defined by social, financial, and political precarity,” but encouraged his classmates to “reshape this world and imagine new ones oriented toward justice, peace, and freedom. I am so excited to see what you all dream up.”

Kimberly Richard, who traveled from Alabama to watch her son Aaron Richard ’26 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, pointed to obstacles the Class of 2026 had already had to face, like isolation in their formative years during the pandemic. “So to see them still be able to grow and to see what y’all have done with my son and his legacy, that’s everything,” she said.

Her son, Aaron, said that “you really learn the true definition of gratitude when you graduate,” because when challenges arise at Princeton, “you grow from those challenges.”

“Even the darkest of times in Firestone Library made me who I am today, and I’m proud to have endured through that, and [I’ve] enjoyed the great times with friends, too,” said Luke Krongard ’26, a computer science major.

President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 conferred degrees on more than 2,000 students and six honorary Princetonians, including musician Herbie Hancock, right.

Sameer A. Khan h'21 / Fotobuddy

Princeton awarded six honorary degrees this year, recognizing the contributions of former CIA director William J. Burns, physicist Steven Chu, Princeton Slavic languages and literatures professor emerita Caryl Emerson, jazz musician Herbie Hancock, former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, and global tech entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa.

In the afternoon of Commencement day in Nassau Hall’s Faculty Room, nine graduating ROTC students became commissioned officers in a ceremony during which they took the oath of office, received ranking pins, and performed the traditional Silver Dollar Salute. According to the University, two of the graduating students became the first from Princeton’s ROTC program to be commissioned as officers in the U.S. Space Force. Brig. Gen. Grant S. Fawcett ’96, deputy director for politico-military affairs in the J-5 Directorate of the Joint Staff, led the celebration. In his remarks, he told the graduates that “navigating this future requires leaders of character.”