Student from behind with graduation cap that reads, "I did it anyway".
WSU Everett
2026 Commencement Program

Welcome to WSU Everett’s 2026 Commencement

Commencement at Washington State University Everett is a moment of recognition and collective celebration.

Today, we gather to honor academic achievement and to confer Washington State University degrees—degrees earned through rigorous study, intellectual curiosity, and commitment to learning. This ceremony marks the completion of an important chapter and affirms the values that unite all WSU campuses: excellence, innovation, and public purpose.

Families, friends, faculty, and staff come together to share this occasion and to recognize its significance. While each graduate’s path is distinct, commencement is a shared milestone—one that connects today’s graduates to the proud tradition of Washington State University and to a global community of WSU alumni.

We are honored to celebrate this day with you.

Go Cougs!

Program Schedule (In Sequential Order)

Processional

  • Banner Procession
  • Candidates for Degrees
  • Washington State University Everett Faculty
  • Platform Party

Presentation of the Colors

Marysville Junior ROTC Color Guard

National Anthem

Jessie Lorenz

Land Acknowledgement

Joe Gladstone, Associate Professor of Management, Carson College of Business

Remarks

  • Sandra Haynes, Executive Vice President for WSU Statewide Campuses
  • Elizabeth Cantwell, President, Washington State University System
  • Rafia Shakil, Vice President, Associated Students of Washington State University Everett
  • Angela Jones, Director, Washington State and U.S. Charters, Gates Foundation

Presentation of Degrees

  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • Carson College of Business
  • Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
  • College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences
  • Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
  • College of Nursing

Conferral of Degrees

Sandra Haynes, Executive Vice President for WSU Statewide Campuses

Diploma March

  • Doctoral Candidate
  • Bachelor’s Candidates

Alumni Greeting

Lisa Heard, President-Elect, WSU Alumni Association

Turning of the Tassels

Rafia Shakil, Vice President, Associated Students of Washington State University Everett

Closing Remarks

Sandra Haynes, Executive Vice President for WSU Statewide Campuses

Recessional*

  • Platform Party
  • Washington State University Everett Faculty
  • Graduates

Please stand and remain at your seats for the processional and recessional.

Degree Candidates

Message From Our President

Dear WSU Graduates,

Today marks both an accomplishment and a beginning.

Congratulations. You have completed your degree at a time when higher education, the workforce, and our communities are changing rapidly—and you did so while managing real responsibilities in your lives. Many of you balanced coursework with careers, families, military service, and community commitments. That persistence matters. It says something important about who you are and what you can do next.

You are graduating at a moment of profound transformation. The nature of work is changing. Technology is reshaping industries. Communities are redefining how learning happens across a lifetime. And through all that change, you made the decision to keep going—to finish what you started.

Many of you earned this degree while working full time, raising families, caring for others, serving in your communities, or rebuilding careers. You studied late at night, early in the morning, and in the margins of already full lives. Progress may not always have come easily or quickly—but you stayed with it.

Your degree signals more than mastery of a field. It shows that you are adaptable—the single most important capability in a world defined by continuous change. The careers you hold today may evolve. Entire industries will transform. New opportunities will emerge that do not yet exist.

What will endure is your ability to learn, to lead, and to contribute.

The future will belong to people willing to step forward, solve hard problems, and help their communities navigate uncertainty with clarity and purpose. That is now your role—not only as graduates, but as Cougs.

As you move into this next chapter, know that you carry with you a Cougar community that is proud of you and invested in your success. Cougar Nation stretches across professions, cities, and generations—and today you join it as graduates and peers.

The future is being built by people willing to take initiative. You are ready for that work.

Congratulations, Class of 2026. We are proud of you.

Signature: Elizabeth Cantwell

Betsy Cantwell

President

Alma Mater

Washington, my Washington,
the Crimson and the Gray!
‘Tis the song of memory
that we sing today.
When the sad hours come to you
and sorrows ’round you play,
Just sing the songs of Washington,
the Crimson and the Gray!

Washington State University Fight Song

Fight, fight, fight for Washington State!
Win the victory!
Win the day for Crimson and Gray!
Best in the West,
we know you’ll all do your best,
So on, on, on, on!
Fight to the end!
Honor and glory you must win!
So fight, fight, fight for Washington State
and victory!
W – A – SHI – N – G – TON
S – T – ATE – C – O – UGS!
Go Cougs!