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Michigan State class of 2023 reflects on challenging four years at graduation

The class endured the COVID-19 pandemic and a mass shooting during its time on campus.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — At Michigan State University’s graduation on Friday, it was a bit of a different ceremony than in year’s past.

They're celebrating a graduating class that went through multiple life changing events while on campus, and honoring the students who had their chance to walk across the stage taken away.

"Your degrees prepare you for a future we try to foresee," says Teresa K. Woodruff, MSU's interim president. "But your shared experiences equip you for what no one could predict.”

The end of an unpredictable four years for the MSU class of 2023.

“The turmoil of the last few years will stay with you in big ways and small," says Dr. Lisa Cook, the commencement speaker and Michigan State professor who now sits in the Federal Reserve's board of governors.

It began in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on the usual college experience.

And culminating months ago, when the campus was shaken by a mass shooting.

"You’ve been through a lot these past four years. Too much," says Dr. Cook. "More than any person or lifetime should accommodate.”

Brian Fraser, Arielle Anderson and Alex Verner had their college dreams stolen, but their degrees still earned, each receiving one from their respective school.

"Those scholars and leaders are forever part of our Spartan family," says Woodruff.

Elyse Baden, a member of the 2023 class, spoke before the crowd.

"We experienced a horror that nothing could have prepared us for," she says.

But through it all, she showed pride in her fellow students.

"The class of 2023 continued to exhibit our Spartan will," says Baden.

Because despite the traumatic experiences, it's happiness that prevails in the end.

"The person you are and the person you become is formed in part by that experience," Dr. Cook told the crowd. "But joy matters more.”

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