Brigham Young University graduates walked Thursday for the 150th year.
Their degrees have prepared them both for their upcoming professions and a life of purpose and consecrated service, said Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“You are the living extension of this Christ-centered, prophetically directed university,” he said during the commencement speech.
“If BYU is to remain unique in the world, anchored in covenant belonging, moral courage, faithful discipleship and academic excellence, it will be because you choose to live that uniqueness wherever the Lord places you.”
Elder Soares said prophetic vision established and continues to guide the university.
“As you step forward into your divinely appointed future, you do not simply benefit from that vision — you are now called to become stewards of it,” he said. “The second century of BYU will be written in your discipleship, your integrity, your pursuit of truth, your covenant faithfulness and your courage to stand as witnesses of Christ wherever the Lord may send you.”
The graduates who earned the 6,864 degrees conferred Thursday at a full Marriott Center gave a standing ovation to their parents, spouses and children.
Ever the professional statistician, President Shane Reese reported that a record 91% of those graduates responded to the annual senior survey by saying their time at BYU strengthened their faith in Jesus Christ. That percentage has surged upward from 78% at the outset of his administration in 2023.
The percentage of seniors who say their faith in living prophets and apostles was strengthened has experienced a similar surge, to 85% from 71%.
“Class of 2026,” Reese said, “during your time here, you’ve built on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ.”
The Church of Jesus Christ built BYU to prepare disciples to bring a distinctive light to the world, Elder Soares said.
He told the graduates that the habits of discipleship they cultivated at BYU must now become the anchors of their futures.
He also referred to the “Becoming BYU” slogan adopted by Reese.
“At the heart of becoming BYU stands one sacred invitation: to come closer to Jesus Christ,” Elder Soares said.
“Drawing nearer to Christ will not remove all uncertainty from your path,” he said, “but it will give you clarity of purpose, resilience in adversity and peace that surpasses understanding.”
He encouraged them to allow Christ’s grace to refine their character, his teachings to shape their decisions and his love to guide their relationships.
He said drawing closer to Christ will not narrow their lives but enlarge them.
“In your professions, you will be known for your competence,” Elder Soares said, “but heaven will measure something higher: the depth of your conversion and the constancy of your devotion.”
He called graduation the end of the beginning and “a sacred gateway to a future not yet revealed but foreseen by a Father in Heaven who knows you perfectly.”
“Becoming BYU is inseparably connected to becoming who God intends you to become,” Elder Soares said.
Reese said he believes God has given him eyes to see the potential of the graduates, who included one of his sons.
“You each have brighter futures than you can possibly imagine,” the university president said.
Reese shared two pieces of advice.
The first was, “Stay true to the covenants and promises that bind you to God and center your life on Jesus.”
That advice was tied to counsel from the two most recent presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ.
President Russell M. Nelson told Reese when he offered him the BYU job to “tether those students to Jesus Christ” and, gesturing to the Salt Lake Temple, to “shore up their foundation just like this temple.”
President Dallin H. Oaks spoke at a BYU devotional in February and encouraged the students to “to focus on developing our faith in God and in the mission of his son, Jesus Christ.”
“Tie yourself to (your covenants),” Reese said, “and they will pull you heavenward. They will tether you to God and to your most cherished relationships. On your hero’s journey, they may even protect you from unsafe shores.”
His second piece of advice was “to serve and love others every day and be willing and humble enough to have others serve you back.”
“You’ve entered to learn,” he said, “now is your time to use that precious knowledge for the benefit of others.”
The other speakers were Derek Miller, president of the BYU Alumni Association, and Mirabella Archibald Keogh, a graduate in Middle Eastern studies.
Keogh launched the Peacemaker Project, an academic student association dedicated to helping college students engage in productive disagreement, now on 18 campuses, with her husband, Alexander.
Keogh encouraged her fellow graduates to follow three principles in a quest for holy wisdom — lay their whole selves on the altar, consecrate their intellect to building Christ’s kingdom and forget themselves in glorifying God.
The church’s new commissioner of education, Elder James R. Rasband, a General Authority Seventy, attended the commencement ceremony.
The total number of students who graduated in the past school year is 7,174. BYU holds a single commencement each year.
The graduates came from all 50 states and 69 foreign countries.
To read profiles about a number of graduates, click here.