After COVID, then shooting, MSU graduates celebrate: 'We've dealt with lots of adversity'

East Lansing — Like thousands of his classmates at Michigan State University, Tony Cohen overcame daunting challenges during his four years at college.

The COVID-19 pandemic began his freshman year and the West Bloomfield resident, along with the rest of his class, spent most of his second year attending classes online. Then a gunman terrorized campus less than three months ago, killing three students and injuring five more.

"Our class has dealt with lots of adversity," said Cohen, 21.

Despite that, Cohen, who graduated Friday with a degree in psychology, still thinks of MSU as one thing: home.

"A lot of people have considered this place their home. I've considered it my home for these last four years," he said.

Cohen was among 6,978 Spartans who received bachelor’s degrees Friday, marking a moment of joy.

Across campus, graduates, wearing their green caps and gowns, stopped at campus landmarks to snap photos and capture final memories. Friday's buoyant mood was in stark contrast with the scene at MSU 12 weeks ago, when police tape encircled buildings and hundreds of flower arrangements were left at the feet of the Sparty statue.

"I feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself here," said Will Myers, a 22-year-old graduate who studied economics.

Myers said he appreciated those who helped him along the way, but there were moments when he grappled with the unfairness of the tragedy.

"That's just something that's going to stick with me for the rest of my life," Myers said. "It definitely made me appreciate graduating more."

The undergraduates were joined by MSU economist and professor Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as their commencement speaker.

'Live in the joy'

Interim University President Teresa Woodruff took time to acknowledge the Spartan community's pain and the victims of the Feb. 13 mass shooting with a moment of silence at the start of commencement. The crowd remembered Brian Fraser, 20; Arielle Anderson, 19; and Alexandria Verner, 20, as well as the five students recovering from their injuries.

Fraser will receive a posthumous degree from the Eli Broad College of Business, and Anderson and Verner will receive posthumous degrees from the College of Natural Science at the individual college's ceremonies this weekend.

Despite the challenges, Cook, as commencement speaker, said she could feel the hope radiating from graduates on Friday.

"You've been through a lot these past four years, too much, more than any person or lifetime should accommodate," said Cook, who was sworn in as the Fed's first Black female member almost a year ago. "We carry life's injuries with us. They make us who we are. But ... they do not define us because strength and resilience are measured against the struggles we overcome."

The turmoil of the last few years will likely stay with the class of 2023 in big and small ways, Cook said. But their stories do not end there.

"That pain is important, it should be recognized, but it should not be lived in, and it should not define us," Cook said. "Joy matters more. Our capacity for joy and kindness and hope are equally informed by our experiences. Our joy is magnified by the stark relief of the pain we feel. It is sweeter and more life-sustaining and more cherished for its ability to thrive in troubled times."

Cook called MSU the "essence of community" and called on graduates to have hope and "live in the joy."

Flint native Timothy Stokes, 21, graduated with degrees in both neuroscience and physiology. Stokes worked as a resident adviser in MSU's dorms this semester and said the shooting consumed almost all of his thoughts and conversations in the weeks after it. Distance from the event has helped, and on Friday, Stokes was only thinking about the future.

"The biggest thing that's been ... surprising for me, is I don't have necessarily like the next step laid out for me," he said. "After college, it's like, I can do whatever I want."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical adviser to the president and past director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addressed MSU's doctoral candidates at their Friday afternoon ceremony. He reflected on the resilience and strength of the students to fulfill their goals despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which Fauci called one of the most trying experiences of the past 100 years.

Fauci was awarded his 59th honorary degree and left Friday's ceremony an honorary Spartan, while 466 graduate students were awarded their degrees.

Fauci encouraged students to expect the unexpected, a lesson he said he learned from the pandemic, and reminded them that career paths are not always linear.

"Planning your life path is commendable and, in many situations, advisable," he said. "Yet ... some of the most significant events that I've experienced and the directions that I've taken turned out to be wholly unanticipated."

As MSU's spring class of 2023 graduated, over three years after COVID-19 interrupted their college experience and sent the world into lockdown, the World Health Organization declared the global public health emergency over. The U.S. emergency is set to end next week. Fauci said the time has come, but it does not mean that the COVID-19 pandemic itself is over.

"What it does mean is that the overwhelming emergent nature of it is really behind us," Fauci said at a press briefing after the doctorate commencement ceremony. "The WHO ended their emergency today, and on the 11th, the United States is going to end ours, so it sort of is kind of aligned with the rest of the world."

During his speech, Fauci also called on the graduates to push back against the "cacophony of falsehoods and lies" spread through misinformation and disinformation.

The normalization and acceptance of untruths go beyond the pandemic, threatening the foundations of democracy, said Fauci, who was also an adviser to former President Donald Trump, citing the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

"Do not hesitate to push back these disruptive forces with all the strength that you can muster and do your best to explain what is known, what is not known and to help people understand and follow the best available evidence," Fauci said.

He also charged the newly hooded graduate students with healing what he called "our divided nation."

"Today is the time to begin building the bridges that will enable us to pull together with a singular purpose," Fauci said. "You are the generation that can make this happen."

hmackay@detroitnews.com