Over 700 students began a new chapter of their lives on Saturday.

Gannon University held their 2026 spring commencement on Saturday afternoon at the Erie Insurance Arena.

Penn State Behrend awards hundreds of diplomas at 2026 spring commencement

This year’s degree class is complete with 54 doctoral, 206 master’s, 458 bachelor’s and 20 associate’s.

Rebekah Young, a Gannon graduate who received her Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice and Bachelor of Science, told us what it means to be a golden knight.

“It means to be a part of something greater than yourself. I may not know the name of every single person who is going to walk across that stage today, but we have that same common characteristic of being a golden knight, no matter where we go in life, how far we make it, we know that we can come back to Erie, we can come back to Gannon, and it will always be home for us,” said Young.

This year’s keynote speaker was the bishop of the Diocese of Erie, Reverence Lawrence Persico.

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