2026 Commencement Magazine

Dear Class of 2026,

You’ve likely heard this sentence a gazillion times this past year, but to reiterate: You did it! Congratulations! We are honored to celebrate this moment with you through our annual Commencement Magazine.

Your determination, passion and desire to seek perfection have led you to this moment, and you are only moments away from walking the stage and officially becoming a Hopkins graduate. You’ve witnessed and experienced a lot during the past four years: the changing political landscape, Hopkins’ free-tuition announcement, the closure of Milton S. Eisenhower Library followed by the opening of Bloomberg Student Center...

What you’ve achieved wasn’t easy, and as you are preparing to sign off, we hope that you are giving yourself the credit you deserve and a pat on your back. We couldn’t have been more grateful and proud to share your reflections, memories and congratulations — the opportunity to connect with you and join your celebrations is a privilege.

As the 2025–2026 academic year ends, we would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who supported The News-Letter. Amidst large federal changes and administrative projects, our comprehensive coverage would not have been possible without engagement from the Hopkins community. We would like to especially thank:

• Brittini Brown, Angelique Williams Anderson, Laura Stott and Lacey Cohen for their support with the Gatehouse and distribution of our publications
• J.B. Bird, Doug Donovan and Megan Christin for continuously connecting our staff with administrative comments
• Louie DiBernardo Guzman for his guidance with reforming our technology, including purchasing new computers and InDesign licenses, and consistent support and enthusiasm for the paper
• Hans from Epoch Printing for printing our newspapers and magazines after our previous printing company unexpectedly shut down
• All The News-Letter alumni (especially Meagan Peoples, Jacob Took, Abigail Tuschman, Morgan Ome, Samhi Boppana, Shirlene John and Yana Mulani) for their consistent guidance and support through meetings, Alumni Panels and in-person visits to the Gatehouse
• Michael J. Keeling for generously helping us bind and archive old newspapers
• Our donors for their contributions, and especially Jess Bunshaft and his husband, Marc, for their $4,000 donation match, allowing us to renew our equipment and remain financially independent
• Every student, staff, faculty and community member, who agreed to share their opinions, perspectives and thoughts in our articles
• And, of course, our readers for motivating us to continue our coverage — we hope that our articles entertained, educated and informed you.

Last but certainly not least, we would like to applaud all of the time and effort that our dedicated editors, staff and contributing writers have put into the paper this year. The paper’s growth and quality is a direct result of their efforts and passion. We cannot thank them enough for their commitment to The News-Letter, and we know they’ll only continue the momentum from here onwards.

See you all next year!

Buse Koldas, Lana Swindle, Grace Oh & Myra Saeed

Editors-in-Chief 2025–2026 & 2026–2027

Linda Huang & Buse Koldas

Magazine Editors 2026-2027