Larissa FastHorse: ‘Take a Big Swing’
Award-winning writer and choreographer Larissa FastHorse encouraged graduates to say “no” at times when others may feel forced into a “yes” during her 2025 convocation address at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
“You have the privilege of this prestigious university behind you,” said FastHorse, a member of the Sicangu Lakota and co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences. “Use it to uplift others and reject a scarcity mindset. Use it to follow your passion even when it looks like rejection. Use it to take a big swing and a risk that may look like failure now but will lead you to paths you did not imagine.”
The ceremony for the Class of 2025, held on the sparkling shores of Lake Michigan at Ryan Fieldhouse, celebrated 128 undergraduates who earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and Social Policy, 129 students who earned master’s degrees from four programs, and 12 newly minted PhD’s.
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In addition to FastHorse, speakers included Dean Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, undergraduate Adrienne Scheide, and graduate student Sarah Futa of the Master’s in Learning and Organizational Change program.
Graduating seniors Jackson Gordwin and Maya Vuchic (left) emceed the event as convocation co-chairs, and the winners of the Alumni Leadership Award and the Outstanding Faculty and Instructor awards were also named.
Brayboy, the Carlos Montezuma Professor, emphasized the importance of building up rather than tearing down. “Sometimes we get caught up in critique,” he said. “Or complaints. We focus on tearing things apart. Put your formidable intellectual powers to use and build things. It’s harder than tearing them apart. Build toward making the things you’re critiquing better.”
Brayboy also cautioned against arguing because of a need to be right. “Sometimes we dig into our positions because we are taught to argue our point and being right supersedes everything else,” he said. “What would happen if you worked to ‘build a thing?’ Find playmates to build alongside you. It’ll force you to manage your ego, to be simultaneously humble and confident and to move away from the need to be right and toward doing right.”
No over yes
FastHorse, a former ballet dancer who didn’t attend college, made history as the first known female Native American playwright to have a work produced on Broadway when her comedy The Thanksgiving Play—a satirical look at cultural appropriation—debuted in 2023.
She was later tapped to radically reimagine the classic 1954 musical Peter Pan—one without derogatory references to Native Americans and women—which toured nationally, reaching almost a million people last year.
Her career trajectory was unplanned. Instead, she lived her life by three guidelines: follow your passions, stay true to your beliefs and use the power of “no” far more than “yes.”
“Following a course is easy,” said FastHorse, who was named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. “Dreams are easy. But dreams and vision boards are small thinking. Dare to be more expansive than dreams. Enter the unknown.
“Heck, no matter what your field, let foolishness, kindness, and wild abandon be your guide,” she added. “Trust yourself and this education you have been a part of to take you to the path that you have not dreamed. The one that no one has. I promise you will be glad you did.”
More highlights:
Student Leaders Honored: Kaylyn Ahn and Adrija Bhattacharjee received Outstanding Leadership Awards from the School of Education and Social Policy. Ahn studied social policy and legal studies and will pursue a master’s in public policy at Oxford next year as SESP's first Marshall Scholar; Bhattacharjee, a first-generation Bangladeshi American from New Orleans, earned a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration and Policy.
Back for Another Degree: Alivia Britton, who earned her SESP bachelor’s degree in 2024, delivered the Land Acknowledgement for the second year in a row. She earned her master’s in education through the accelerated program, focusing on elementary teaching.
Doctoral Robing Ceremony: A dozen new PhD students were honored during the second annual doctoral robing ceremony, including Nicole Guarino, Julia Honoroff, Phoebe Lin, Matias Martinez, and Beiming Yang in human development and social policy; Katarzyna Pomian Bogdanov, Sarah Larison, Charles Logan, and Alisa Reith in learning sciences; and Maryam Hedayati, Jacob Kelter, and Natalie Araujo Melo in the computer science and learning sciences program.
Teachers Who Change Lives: Rita Thompson, a now-retired English teacher who dedicated 27 years to Elk Grove High School in Illinois, and Julie Stoffel, the dynamic choir director and performing arts teacher at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. Were honored with the prestigious Morton Schapiro Distinguished Secondary School Teacher Award. Thompson was nominated by SESP’s Kaylyn Ahn and Stoffel was nominated by Adrienne Scheide.
Outstanding Professor: David Rapp, the Walter Dill Scott Professor of Learning Sciences and the director of undergraduate education for SESP, received SESP’s Outstanding Professor Award. Rapp previously won the award in 2019. An expert on the effects of misinformation on people's thoughts, group behaviors, and policy decisions, Rapp is well known for his cognitive psychology course in the psych department and has shepherded seven cohorts of students through the honors sequence program. “He is always available to offer guidance and support, and builds meaningful relationships with his students,” one nominator wrote.
Outstanding Instructor: Lilah Shapiro, associate professor of instruction, was voted Outstanding Instructor, an honor she also received in 2020. Shapiro, the Charles Deering McCormick University Professor of Teaching Excellence, teaches two required SESP courses: Understanding Knowledge and Field Research Methods. She is also one of the School’s busiest honors thesis advisors. “She provided so much mentorship in developing a strong methodology and every step of the writing process,” said one student nominator. “She is constantly offering helpful feedback and is a warm, kind and caring human.”
STUDENT SPEAKER HIGHLIGHTS:
- How to build community: Undergraduate student speaker Adrienne Scheide, who tore the front page out of her parent's program before convocation so her speech would be a surprise, reminded her classmates to ask for help, but to “also help carry something heavy.” “SESP is where people go to make change,” said Scheide, who studied human development in context and is known on campus as "the pink beret girl. “SESP and my loved ones have taught me to be firm in who I am and fight for the causes I care for. To help and educate others. This is organizational change. This is social policy. This is human development, this is learning sciences, this is education. We educate not just with one voice but with the perspectives of many identities. And many communities. We need the voices of our communities.”
- Academic trifecta: Speaker Sarah Futa, who earned her master’s in learning and organizational change, also celebrated graduations of two of her four children; her oldest son Evan, 23, graduated from Indiana University, and son Owen, 18, graduated from high school in South Bend, Ind. Futa, a project manager for Notre Dame athletics, is starting her own consulting business. Read highlights of her speech.
- Purple pride: Northwestern alumna Bryana Barry, who earned her Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change, spoke of the importance of context and the “inherent trust” that comes with meeting another Wildcat during Northwestern’s 2025 commencement ceremony at the United Center . “We know we don’t just chase opportunities for a line on a résumé,” she said. “We do it for the experience. For the challenge. For the joy of learning. We show up for each other in moments of struggle and moments of triumph. That is what makes us not just successful students but strong leaders."