SIT’s 59th commencement stressed using lessons learned to “serve for the common good”

Publication Date: August 11, 2025
Publication Location: Brattleboro, VT
Contact: Abby Henson  |  [email protected]

At School for International Training’s 59th commencement Saturday, 32 graduates received their master’s degrees during a ceremony that urged them to trust in the lessons they had learned to navigate challenges and “serve for the common good.”

The ceremony took place on the front lawn of SIT’s Brattleboro campus, where staff and faculty members from around the world gathered with more than 100 guests to celebrate students who completed their master’s degrees in climate change, international relations, humanitarian assistance, international education, sustainable development, and intercultural service and leadership.

Graduate Esmeralda Torres Martínez delivered the student address, in which she noted that she and her fellow graduates would undoubtedly face tough decisions and make mistakes as they began their careers. She beseeched her classmates to trust in what SIT had taught them and work with “love, empathy, and solidarity” to help others as they head into the future.

“After our period of growth at SIT, I hope that when we are confronted with dilemmas, our education, resilience, and listening ability guide our compass to what is best for the collective,” said Torres Martínez, who earned her master’s in climate change and global sustainability. “We, alongside our caring ancestors, have all been weaving a massive collective blanket to take care of our future grandchildren who will roam, laugh, and cry in this Universe.”

Keynote speaker Larry Cooley also spoke to foreseeable difficulties ahead, as he expressed concern about the “world we are handing to those coming after us.” But he added that, despite increasing hardship for many in the U.S. and around the world, the present situation might open a window of opportunity. Cooley is the founder and president emeritus of Management Systems International, an international development consulting firm, and the former board chair of World Learning and SIT’s Board of Trustees. He is an alum of the International Honors Program, SIT’s comparative multi-country program.

“The rebuilding that’s going to be needed is not only at the highest levels. Rebuilding is also required at the community and interpersonal levels where we need to overcome today’s intense polarization and find new ways to listen to one another, to celebrate our common humanity, and to work collaboratively,” Cooley said. He stressed that the graduating class now has the distinct ability to “see things from perspectives other than your own” thanks to their SIT education.

“Radical empathy is your superpower. And that I believe will be needed to fashion solutions,” he said, further asking them to use this superpower to help others.

“As you take whatever your next step happens to be, I ask you to consider joining…a team committed to social justice, collective action, and post-partisan politics, fighting with a sense of community that includes the left out and the left behind.”

“SIT was born out of the desire to serve for the common good—and the common good writ large—for our community is the world,” said SIT President Dr. Sophia Howlett. “That was what we were asked to do by the Peace Corps when we were asked to train the first volunteers who stepped forward to serve when called. And I think I can speak for all the faculty and staff of SIT globally—that is what we believe, we hope, we are doing when we invite you to join us and work with us for your graduate studies.

“So, what then does service for the common good mean? It is an affirmation, a stepping forward, it is saying ‘yes’ when a situation, a group, or an individual asks for help. I would suggest to you that once you have stepped up, stepped forward, stepped in, what you do next is not what you want, but what is needed, what is necessary.”

Howlett noted that this was her last commencement speech to SIT graduates. She will be stepping down as president effective December 31, marking the end of her second term and nine years of service with the institution.

Darin Smith-Gaddis, SIT’s senior director of university relations and strategic outreach, concluded the program’s remarks by welcoming the graduates into SIT’s extensive global network of alumni. Nearly 75,000 students worldwide have graduated from or taken SIT graduate, undergraduate, certification, or non-degree programs since its founding in 1964.

Seventeen students made the trip to Vermont to attend the ceremony in person, while others joined online. Students in SIT’s global master’s programs study and do their research at the institution’s international learning centers. Flags from around the world adorned the stage’s backdrop, representing the countries where students were from and the countries where SIT’s learning centers are based. This year also marked the return of SIT’s mascot, Walnut the Chipmunk.

School for International Training, the higher education institution of World Learning, was established in 1964 as a training center for the first Peace Corps volunteers. Today, SIT is a U.S.-accredited global university offering undergraduate study abroad programs, including the International Honors Program, and globally focused graduate and doctoral degrees and certificates. SIT prepares students to be effective changemakers and global citizens through experiential education focused on the world's most critical global issues. For more information, visit sit.edu.