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Alums and the families, friends and mentors of more than 175 graduating students of color gathered in Chapin Auditorium on May 23, 2025, ready and willing to cheer during the twenty-first annual Stoling Ceremony at ������ý College.

The event was sponsored by the Student Government Association and the Office of Community and Belonging. Associate Dean of Students and Executive Director of Community and Belonging Latrina L. Denson was the advisor for the ceremony. It gave graduating students of color the opportunity to reflect on their journeys at the College and acknowledge the mentors who inspired and supported them.

At the ceremony, students receive stoles made from either kente or stain cloth that are embroidered with the letters MHC and three symbols: a diamond for wealth and knowledge, a key for the key to knowledge and a stool for leadership and unity.

Mentorship, Denson said, is not only crucial to students’ development and growth but also key to community building.

“It’s a relationship which brings us together across generations, often … in a manner that forces us to acknowledge our interdependence,” she said. “In this way, we’re sharing that mentoring enables us to participate in the essential but unfinished drama of reinventing community while reaffirming that there is an important role for each of us.”

According to Denson, more than 120 mentors attended the ceremony.

������ý President Danielle R. Holley described the event as “joyous” and thanked the students’ mentors and supporters.

“Our faculty and our staff are so deeply committed to our students,” she said. “This mentorship takes on a special dimension for students of color who navigate predominantly white institutions. ������ý is a uniquely earnest place, and our students, faculty and staff are particularly sincere and caring. This might be a result of our historical roots as a place of inclusion for those who have been historically excluded, and perhaps it’s the result of almost 200 years of lessons learned that when you invite people in instead of excluding them … everyone benefits.”

The Stoling Ceremony was held despite the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives in higher education.

“This ceremony is especially important this year when we saw our government [say] that ceremonies like this are inherently illegal and should be canceled to be in compliance with federal law. So now more than ever, we celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion,” Holley said. “We celebrate that no matter how much any government entity opposes us, ������ý forever shall be.”

The alum speaker was Natasha Lewis ’15, a co-founder of the Students of Color Committee. In her speech, she celebrated the joys she had experienced at ������ý but acknowledged the pressures the world brings to bear on students of color.

“Once you leave these days, the … real world … will come full volume: the doubt, the anxiety, politics, work-life balance, family events and so much more,” Lewis said. “Balancing school and life here was so difficult for me, and though I was in a bubble, the world [did] not stop. I got to start to see how the world truly sees me and people like me, from watching the case on TV to having our on campus.”

She urged the students not to make themselves small.

“The world is very loud — very loud — on all the things they do not want you to be, how they want you to look, how they want you to think. Do not let any person, job, company [be] in your face!” Lewis said. “Be self-assured, and be very aware when someone shows you who they are, and trust them. You have so much power in your mind and your dollar, and that is why there is an attack on your very being. Understand you are so big, even when you feel small. You are your ancestors’ wildest dreams, and it guides you always.”

Lewis received an elder’s stole for her trailblazing work and support for the ������ý community.

The first Stoling Ceremony was held in May 2005. The event was created to give graduating students of color a chance to gather and celebrate their achievements with their families and friends and College staff and faculty members. The 2025 Stoling Ceremony was one of the many affinity-based celebrations held before Commencement. Others included the Lavender Ceremony, the International Senior Ceremony, the Fearless First Cording Ceremony, the Jumma Lunch for Seniors, the Commencement Shabbat, and the Blessing and Sending event.