CMC Currents

Building a CMC home from Harare.
Embracing the good life with Akshata and Rishi.
Unleashing the underdog in President Chodosh’s final charge.
Even an Impact Award and a big tennis ball for Theo!

***

When CMC’s graduating Class of 2026 chose Tendai Nyamuronda ’26 as its student Commencement speaker, it handed him an awesome responsibility: To somehow, in one speech, summarize their journey of triumphs and sorrows, honor what they discovered about themselves through each other, and celebrate the shared home they created together.

If the standing ovation they gave him was any indication, Nyamuronda fulfilled what his peers put their trust in him to do.

“We built a home. A home for all of us, with our diverse identities, cultures, and experiences. Where we came together like differently colored threads, beautifully woven into the unique fabric that is our community. A home not in the residential dorms, but a home within each other,” he said.

Nyamuronda was one of more than 300 undergraduates who stepped onto the Pritzlaff Field stage as students at CMC’s 78th Annual Commencement … and stepped off as alumni. As he looked out upon his peers with whom he formed his CMC home, Nyamuronda also saw—in a special moment, on a separate screen set up by the College to the side of the main stage—his parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and other loved ones cheering him on from his familial home more than 10,000 miles away in Zimbabwe.

It was from this family and his native country that Nyamuronda first learned about community before infusing it into CMC life. He spoke about coming from a culture that “values collective success,” and being taught from a young age in Harare that “no one can ever truly thrive alone—we grow, succeed, and find purpose through our connections with one another.”

“And that is the concept of Hunhu/Ubuntu, which embodies the aspect of ‘I am because we are.’ And if ‘I am because we are,’ then who we all became during our time here, we became as a result of each and every individual in our community,” Nyamuronda said.

Following a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by Ava Thuresson ’26 to open the May 16 ceremony, Rachel Supnick ’26 and Tanzila Jamal ’26 jointly asked the audience in an invocation to reflect on critical questions and practice “beautiful patience” inspired by their Jewish and Muslim faiths. Both infused their remarks with the spirit of open inquiry so central to the CMC experience, along with themes of personal development and creating community that echoed throughout the afternoon.

In his annual address, President Hiram Chodosh further highlighted the crucial relationship between the individual and the collective—“the gift of gifts,” he said: “It is not the accomplishment of only finding the gifts within; it’s our graduates giving them to others.”

“This is not only about how you got into CMC. This is not only about the required work you did to now pass out of it,” President Chodosh continued. “This is about how CMC got into you, the drive in your step across this stage into the arenas that now call for you.”

A leader deeply respected for his commitment to students, President Chodosh shared numerous stories of graduates whose personal development was not merely contained within but, instead, invested in something bigger than themselves:

Of Kylee Tevis and Desiree Galamgam: “Open ear, generous heart, warm shoulder, spontaneous hug. Small acts of kindness that create the banality of good.”

Of Riley Capuano: “Didn’t even run competitively in high school. Now here with a coach who believed in her. Cross-Country three-time All-American and CMS record holder in the 1500 meters.”

Of Louis Layman: “Stricken with addition, turns his life around, then circles to others to create a powerful peer-group support program.”

“In these moments, big and small, our graduates unleash the underdog in themselves, in others, in all of us,” President Chodosh said of their powerful examples. “Yes, it’s the story of outsiders, believers, firsts in their families, personal challenges, self-doubts, failures, moments of crisis, illness, tragedy. And it’s the story of how our students draw on their own lessons to change the world around them.”

Before introducing the afternoon’s keynote speakers, Senior Class President Chloe Ross ’26 acknowledged that there remain many more lessons to learn—but buoyed by collective support, they set out unafraid.

“There’s a tension in this moment between knowing we’re ready and realizing how much we’re still figuring out,” Ross said. “But if there’s one thing this community has given us, it’s the confidence to step forward anyway—with curiosity, with courage, and with a sense of responsibility for the world we’re about to enter. And most importantly, the knowledge that we’re stepping into it together.”

Class of 2026 graduates will also stride into their future endeavors with the full support and embrace of their newly joined CMC alumni community—alumni who faced their own moment of empowered uncertainty and have gone on to achieve tremendous things in and for the world.

This is certainly true of entrepreneur and philanthropist Akshata Murty ’02, as well as her husband, The Right Honourable Rishi Sunak, former Prime Minister of the UK and current Member of Parliament, who partnered to deliver the keynote address. President Chodosh celebrated the duo, their leadership, and their philanthropy as “a fusion of parallel brilliance, love, and service to lift our civilization.” Or simply put by Ross: “Talk about a power couple.”

Acknowledging that the Class of 2026 is graduating into a challenging “world in flux,” Sunak pressed upon students that the past four years have not only readied them, but now required them, to lead.

“What the world needs now is people who are intellectually curious, who ask the right questions, who can think broadly, and this is what CMC has prepared you to do … It has also made you realize that the privilege of this education comes with a duty to be a responsible leader, to be one who serves something greater than just themselves,” said Sunak, who served as Prime Minister from 2022-24 and was the youngest to assume office in more than 200 years.

Murty, who left her home in Bangalore, India, at age 18 to attend CMC, drew from her most influential CMC class, “Theories of the Good Life,” taught by Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Steve Smith (who was in attendance), to impart “three wise words” from the course she took 25 years ago: balance, introspection, and community.

In doing so, Murty revisited the synergy between the value of understanding one’s internal world and the imperative of responsibility to the outside world.

“Often, it takes a moment of quiet to listen to what you’re really telling yourself, how you really feel about something, and whether you’re truly aligned with what you hold dear,” she said. “Some people may say that’s self-indulgent, but the reality is, it’s anything but. Because the greater your skill at tuning into yourself honestly, the more you have to offer others.”

Murty further urged graduates: “Yes, be ambitious for your careers, of course. You must throw your everything into it. But in that same breath, be ambitious about becoming fully yourself, too. Because all leaders are individuals first, and all individuals are a permanent work in progress, and therein lies the joy and the potential of a good life.”

After an enthusiastic standing ovation, Honorary Doctorates were conferred upon Murty and Sunak. In a light moment near the end of the ceremony, a third special honor was bestowed: not for the recipient’s global-scale impact, but for being the “heart of the campus.” To a chant of “Theo! Theo! Theo!” by an adoring graduating class, the well-known Labradoodle—beloved pup of President Chodosh and his wife, Priya Junnar—bounded on stage to receive his Community Impact Award (and giant, signed tennis ball from the Class of 2026!)

CMC Board Chair Ken Valach ’82 ushered in the moment of whimsy and sentimentality, pairing with it heartfelt appreciation for the extraordinary contributions of “fellow graduates” President Chodosh and Junnar. President Chodosh is completing his tenure at the end of June. However, he will maintain a chaired faculty position at CMC, and with Junnar, continue to play a strong role in the CMC community.

Always a Commencement highlight during his 13-year tenure, President Chodosh closed the ceremony with his inspiring charge to the graduates. In a poetic collection of directives that “are only a mirror to reflect back what we have all learned from you,” these final stanzas marked the end of the afternoon and sent 300-plus caps soaring into the air:

Unleash the underdog
in you
in everyone you meet
in all of us, too

Never give up on your leadership.
Never give up on one another.
Never give up on our world.
Never give up on our shared future.

We love you for who you are.
We are moved by who you have become.
Never give up on us.
We will never give up on you.

Congratulations to the Class of 2026.
Cheers to you all.

Relive the 2026 Commencement ceremony through our full celebration on YouTube.

View more photos from the day in our main gallery and individual graduate gallery.

—Additional contributions from Thomas Rozwadowski