Each year a student representative is selected to speak on behalf of the class at Transylvania’s commencement ceremony. This year’s student speaker was Alicyn Croley who challenged her classmates to “leave every person and place better than it was found.” This message, originally shared by retiring political science professor Don Dugi, served as a charge for the graduating class, encouraging them to not just achieve but to impact, to contribute and to take responsibility for what is around them.
Croley is from Williamsburg, Kentucky. She double majored in philosophy and political science. During her time at Transylvania, she was a four-year member of the women’s volleyball team, ODK president and a member of Chi Omega, the Pre-Law and Public Policy Society and several honor societies.
Following graduation, Alicyn plans to attend law school.
The following is a transcript of Croley’s prepared remarks:
Good morning. President Lewis, faculty, staff, families, and to my fellow members of the Class of 2025. I am honored and humbled to address you today. As I stand here, I’m reminded of the remarkable people who surround me, students who represent the full spectrum of what it means to succeed at Transylvania. Among us are scholars who pushed the boundaries of research and creativity. Athletes who became national champions and teammates who showed up day after day with grit and heart. Leaders who built organizations, led service projects, and made space for voices that needed to be heard. And individuals who persevered quietly, with determination that never made headlines but shaped this campus all the same.
The diversity of paths we’ve walked at Transy is something to be proud of. But there is also something we’ve all shared: the experience of learning in a place small enough to be personal and demanding enough to make us better. Here, we weren’t allowed to drift in the back row unnoticed. Our professors knew our names and, more than that, they knew when we weren’t quite ourselves. Our classmates became collaborators, friends, and sometimes challengers, asking us to think more deeply and show up more fully. One of those professors who shaped this community for decades is Dr. Don Dugi. Many of us know his name, some of us had the privilege of sitting in his classroom and unfortunately graded our papers. For fifty years, he taught political science at Transy, and more than that, he embodied what it meant to belong to an academic community. On his final day of teaching, he shared something that’s stayed with me, and maybe with many of you. He said that his goal, every day, was simple: “to leave every person and place better than it was found.”
That line has echoed in my mind ever since. It’s the kind of wisdom that doesn’t shout, but sticks. Because if you’ve really been part of Transy, you know that’s what this place asks of you. Not just to achieve, but to impact. Not just to succeed, but to contribute. “Leave every person and place better than you found them.” It’s not just a personal ethic. It’s a challenge. And it’s one I think we’re ready to meet. Transylvania didn’t just teach us to think. It taught us to care. To notice. To take responsibility for what’s around us. Whether we’re heading into graduate programs, jobs, public service, or somewhere completely unplanned, that lesson remains. We’re stepping into a world that’s uncertain, polarized, and fast-moving. But if we carry Dr. Dugi’s words with us, if we commit ourselves to leaving people and places better than we found them, then we won’t just be reacting to the world. We’ll be helping to shape it.
And the truth is, that doesn’t require a grand platform. Sometimes it just looks like listening when it’s easier not to. Speaking up when silence would be more comfortable. Leading with integrity in spaces where it’s not the norm. Or simply doing your job, whatever it is, well, and with respect for the people around you. We’re not the same people who arrived here four years ago. And that’s the point. This place stretched us. It tested us. It gave us room to grow. But it also reminded us that growth isn’t just about reaching new heights, it’s about becoming more aware of the impact we have on others, and how we use it.
To my classmates: thank you for the ways you’ve made this place better, for your honesty, your effort, your humor, and your resilience. And as we go our separate ways, my hope for us is simple: that we carry this Transy habit with us. That we keep showing up. Keep asking questions. Keep pursuing bold paths. And keep striving to leave every person and place better than we found them.
Congratulations, Class of 2025. Let’s go make good on it.