On Saturday, The University of Texas at Austin held its 143rd spring commencement ceremony in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Tens of thousands of family members and friends gathered to celebrate more than 17,000 graduates from across colleges and schools.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, University President Jim Davis addressed the newest class of Texas Exes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraduates, you arrived here as students, and you leave as alumni. But your journey with our University is far from over. As students, you have learned, you have formed lasting friendships, and you have discovered new things about yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be fair to say that you have changed. But here\u2019s what has not changed: You are Longhorns. You were yesterday, you are today, and you always will be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways remember this: You and this University are forever connected. You are woven into the fabric of The University of Texas. And it is woven into you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The keynote address was delivered by Colt McCoy, former Texas Longhorns quarterback, NFL veteran, and real estate and Texas higher education leader. McCoy was a two-time finalist for the Heisman Trophy while at UT and earlier this year was appointed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, where he champions student success in public higher education statewide.<\/p>\n
In his speech, McCoy offered three pieces of advice to the Class of 2026:<\/p>\n
Build your life on something that lasts, even if it takes a little longer.
\nStart with the small things and stack wins each day.
\nMake the right choices, even when they\u2019re hard.<\/p>\n
He also described what being a Longhorn and UT graduate means \u2013\u2013 combining talent and hard work to change the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u202factually carried\u202fme forward in life wasn\u2019t my gifts. It was my\u202fchoices. We celebrate talent, and we should. But character is built in the decisions that nobody claps for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re graduating from the University of Texas. That is no small thing. What you\u2019ve built here: your knowledge, your\u202fhabits,\u202fyour toughness,\u202fyour\u202ffortitude, that\u2019s\u202fyour\u202ffoundation and\u202fyour\u202fplaybook. What starts here doesn\u2019t just stay here. It goes with you. Into every room, every relationship, every opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s my point: Your gifts might open the door, but your choices will determine how far you go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be challenges and you\u2019ll face adversity \u2026\u202fbut we are built different at The University of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife echoed President Davis and McCoy\u2019s pride in the Class of 2026 with enthusiastic remarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have made us all incredibly proud as you are our hope for the future,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watch below for a full look at commencement, including remarks from 2025-26 student body president Hudson Thomas and president and chair of the Texas Exes, Arleas Kea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, The University of Texas at Austin held its 143rd spring commencement ceremony in Darrell K Royal-Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[11918,132,134,133,1086,8014,31778,91887,517,3618,41073,13177,163,13178,19033,23467,23468,8015,21695,23469,103796,26466,33030,91888,13179,25719,1049,2459],"class_list":["post-287299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-alumni","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-campus","tag-cockrell-school-of-engineering","tag-college-of-education","tag-college-of-fine-arts","tag-college-of-liberal-arts","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-college-of-pharmacy","tag-dell-medical-school","tag-education","tag-faculty","tag-graduate-school","tag-jackson-school-of-geosciences","tag-lbj-school-of-public-affairs","tag-mccombs-school-of-business","tag-moody-college-of-communication","tag-school-of-architecture","tag-school-of-information","tag-school-of-law","tag-school-of-nursing","tag-school-of-social-work","tag-staff","tag-statewide-impact","tag-students","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}