Mayor Parker Inspires Rosemont College Graduates with Message of Grit, Belonging, and Purpose
In an inspiring address at Rosemont College’s 2025 Commencement on May 15, Mayor of Philadelphia Cherelle Parker urged graduates to reject self-doubt, embrace perseverance, and never let anyone diminish their achievements.
Drawing from her own journey as the first in her family to graduate college and earn an Ivy League degree, Parker encouraged students to “never rent space” to negativity and to rely on the power of grit – a trait she called the true key to success. She celebrated the pride that comes from earning your place and reminded graduates, especially non-traditional students, that they belong in every space they aspire to occupy.
With passion and authenticity, she ended her speech with a spirited call: “Don’t throw shade on my Rosemont College shine,” encouraging graduates to move forward boldly and use their success for good.
Excerpts from Mayor Parker’s Commencement Address:
- “I’m going share three things that I’m going to ask you to promose me that you will hold onto. First, don’t ever employ use of the negative self-fulfilling prophecy. ‘Mayor Parker, what does that sound like?’ It sounds like someone telling you, if you are like me, the first in your family to become a college graduate, first in your family to become an Ivy League graduate, someone, somewhere, somehow telling you that you don’t have a place in that environment and you don’t believe. I need you to make sure that you have girded yourself in such a way that you don’t even allow it to rent space in your psyche.”
- “Usually, the people who are trying to tell you where you don’t belong have not traveled the journey that you are on. They don’t know where to drive, where the passion, where the commitment, where the resilience that is deep inside of you comes from to allow you to stay laser-focused on achieving the academic credentials that you’ve earned here on today.”
- “The second thing you have to promise me is that you will employ what we call in my office – the ‘G’ word. The ‘G’ word is grit. There’s a psychologist by the name of Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania, and she studied extremely successful people all across the world. She studied folks who came from some of our most distinguished military academies. She studied teachers who had been successful in working in challenging environments, medical professionals, lawyers, and she was trying to find out what was the common theme or thread of success of the people who had achieved great distinction. And despite what some may believe, it wasn’t the socioeconomic status of those people. Now, if you’re like me and you come from humble beginnings, and the reason why you are my kind of people, it is because there is something powerful about having to earn your place in the space.”
- “I’m old fashioned, I can’t help it. If you hear someone tell you that the mayor of Philadelphia is old fashioned, and she gets excited about the idea and the thought of being given an opportunity to earn, believe it because it’s true.”
- “There is something powerful about the dignity and pride that comes from knowing that you, no one gave you anything, that you had to earn it, that you stayed up all night long, that you did it over again when they told you what you submitted didn’t meet the mark, but that you never gave up. Promise me that you will remember that perseverance and the ability to stay focused on achieving long-term goals in the midst of adversity, that is what we call grit. And you have to promise me that you won’t ever, ever forget it.”
- “The final thing is, I want to hear you say, repeat after me. ‘Don’t throw shade on my Rosemont College shine.’ I don’t care whether you are a traditional undergraduate student who’s graduating here on today, if it’s professional studies, or if it’s graduate school, particularly those who are non-traditional students. I definitely feel a kinship to you because after graduating from undergrad, I worked in local government, and I was going to change the world. And all of a sudden, I was in my twenties, and they were gone, in my thirties, and they were gone. And I was like, wait this is 40. I need to work on if I’m going to be a mom and if I’m going to do this thing, I better do it right now.”
- “So, I ended up getting married in 2010, having my son in 2012 and going back to school to get my master’s degree in 2014 when my son was two years old, and I was commuting back and forth to Harrisburg as a state representative. Why do I share this part of my story with you? Because I don’t ever want you to subscribe to anyone believing that you don’t belong at any table and in any place or any space that you desire to be. Don’t allow anyone to put you in a box. Only you have the right to determine who you will be and what you will do in the future. I don’t care what your race, class, socioeconomic status, your zip code is – only you and you alone have a right to decide who you will be and where you will go. Will you make a commitment to the mayor that you embrace that frame of thinking?”
- “In closing, let me say to you that I want you to have the audacity to believe that you can go wherever your heart desires for you to go. I just need you to promise me that you will find a way to use your powers for good….Don’t forget what it felt like on today and don’t make this your last stop. Thank you all so very much for your time.”
