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Allie Ennis ’25 may have been singled out by the Class of 2025 as its student Commencement speaker, but when she stepped up to the podium, her remarks were all about community.

Michael N. Castle ’61, a former two-term governor of Delaware who later became the state’s longest-serving U.S. representative, died on Aug. 14, 2025, in Greenville, Del. He was 86.

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, one Hamilton College student is getting intimately acquainted with our nation’s deep and storied history. Lily Watts ’26 spent her summer on the National Mall working as a curatorial exhibition development intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. By sifting through troves of ancient documents and designing object display layouts, Watts reanimated the past two-and-a-half centuries of American life in preparation for 2026’s celebration.

From groundbreaking ideas to game-winning goals, the 2024-25 academic year was full of energy and momentum.

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of The New England Center for Children (NECC), the life’s work of its founder and longtime CEO, Vinnie Strully ’69. Looking back, how did a Hamilton government major, with no clear career path, go on to establish what would become one of the world’s leading organizations for the treatment of children and adolescents with autism just five years after graduating?

Charlotte Ameringer ’88 works small. As chief conservator at the Portland Art Museum, she recently spent nine months ever so gently removing varnish from a painting in Monet’s famous “Waterlilies” series.

Bob Halligan, Jr. ’75 has written over 1,100 songs, 200 of which have been recorded by such artists as Cher, KISS, Michael Bolton, Blue Oyster Cult, Kathy Mattea … the list goes on. But to his classmates, Halligan is perhaps better known for his performances with the campus band Steak Nite.

They arrived with curiosity, drive, and a sense of possibility — and now Hamilton’s Class of 2025 is stepping boldly into what’s next, with graduation canes in hand and valuable lessons learned. What shaped them during their four years on College Hill? Which moments, mentors, and courses stand out?

Delbert Gonzales ’25, a theater major at Hamilton and winner of the College’s James Soper Merrill Prize this year, is committed to pursuing a career in the theatre industry. However, this path did not always seem a viable option to him. Growing up in Louisiana, Gonzales described how his school didn’t provide much support or many opportunities in theatre. His overall inexperience left him not knowing if he would ever “be good enough” to truly pursue the art.

Sabina Feder ’25 and Brianna “Bri” Padilla ’25 both received Hamilton’s prestigious Bristol Fellowship, which sponsors projects “based on strong personal interest and commitment” and that “exhibit a spirit of inquisitiveness and a seriousness of purpose.”