“No One Reaches This Moment Alone”: Widener Law Commonwealth Celebrates the Class of 2026
The loudest applause during Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s commencement ceremony did not come after a diploma was handed out or a speech ended.
It came when the 96 graduates turned around.
At the request of Widener University President Stacey Robertson, members of Widener Law Commonwealth’s newest graduating class rose from their seats inside The Forum in Harrisburg and faced the crowd behind them, applauding the parents, partners, children, professors, friends and mentors who helped carry them through law school.
For a few moments, the focus shifted away from the stage and onto the people who helped the graduates reach it.
That spirit shaped nearly every part of Widener Law Commonwealth’s commencement ceremony, as the future legal professionals prepared to enter a profession built on advocacy, public service and responsibility to others.
Families held phones overhead to capture the milestone. At the same time, graduates laughed, wiped away tears, and embraced classmates they had spent years studying beside, surviving cold calls, finals, internships, clinics and the relentless pace of law school together.
As each graduate crossed the stage inside The Forum to receive a hood and diploma, cheers echoed throughout the theater from families and friends celebrating years of sacrifice and perseverance.
Dean andré douglas pond cummings challenged graduates to recognize the weight of the profession they are entering, reminding them that lawyers have long stood at the center of some of the country’s most significant social and constitutional movements.
“The legal profession is a noble and serving profession,” cummings said. “You will strengthen your communities. You will give voice to those who have been historically harmed. You will become that individual upon whom your clients rely.”
But the room grew quieter as cummings shifted from broad reflections about the legal profession to a deeply personal memory from his own graduation from Howard University School of Law in 1997.
As he crossed the stage that day, he recalled hearing a commotion erupt from the audience. When he looked up, he saw his mother standing on a chair, cheering for him. Beside her stood his sister Susan, whom he credited with encouraging him to leave southern California for college and pursue opportunities he once doubted were possible.
Years later, after Susan died from cancer, the memory took on even greater meaning.
“Huge wins like today don’t happen all the time,” cummings told the audience. “Celebrate one another. Shower love upon your graduate. Graduates, show appreciation for the people who believed in you and pulled you through these challenging years of law school.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, a 2007 graduate of the law school, built his commencement address around the idea that there is no single path into the legal profession and no single definition of success.
“I had no clear roadmap,” Sunday told the crowd. “I have far exceeded the world’s expectations for my life.”
Sunday reflected on joining the U.S. Navy directly out of high school, serving as one of the lowest-ranking sailors aboard his ship before deployments in the Persian Gulf and South America helped shape the discipline and perspective that later guided his legal career.
After leaving the military, he worked at UPS while pursuing his undergraduate degree and eventually law school before building a career as a prosecutor handling homicide, gang and narcotics cases.
“No one follows a straight line,” Sunday said. “There is no single path to success. There’s no uniform timeline, and there is not one version of what your career or life is supposed to look like.”
Again and again, Sunday returned to the importance of listening, urging the audience to resist division and remain open to people whose experiences differ from their own.
“You can’t advocate for people that you don’t understand,” Sunday said. “And you can’t understand people if you’re unwilling to communicate, to listen and to build relationships.”
At one point, he paused to repeat a lesson his grandmother once told him.
“You have two ears and one mouth,” Sunday said. “Use them in proportion.”
Throughout the afternoon, speakers reminded graduates that commencement marked more than the end of law school. It marked their entry into a profession that will ask them to lead, advocate, listen, and serve.
His remarks also acknowledged the uncertainty many graduates feel stepping into the legal profession, encouraging them not to let fear dictate the course of their lives or careers.
“Your beginnings do not define your future,” he said. “Don’t ever let the fear of uncertainty hold you back from pursuing what matters to you.”
Community remained a constant theme throughout the afternoon.
Student Bar Association President Ely Zeigler reflected on the friendships and support systems the cohort built together during its time at Widener Law Commonwealth, from student events and attorney panels to the quieter moments that helped students survive the pressures of legal education.
“What we managed to do with that time was foster a great community,” Zeigler said. “I think that’s something we should all be very proud of."
Like the speakers before him, Zeigler turned his attention toward the families and supporters seated throughout The Forum.
“If you’re anything like me, the support from home was the most important,” he said. “There’s no way that we get here without all of the effort that you put in.”
Valedictorian Kiera Flannery urged her classmates to carry compassion and humanity into the legal profession, grounding her remarks in the Supreme Court’s language from Brown v. Board of Education that “education is the very foundation of good citizenship.”
“People remember your goodness, how you made others feel seen,” Flannery said. “Remember those here who made you feel seen and carry them with you throughout your career.”
She closed by borrowing a line from Taylor Swift that drew knowing laughter and applause from classmates across the Forum.
“You’re on your own, kid,” Flannery said. “Yeah, you can face this.”
The class of 2026 now joins Widener Law Commonwealth’s alumni network of judges, public servants, advocates, prosecutors, business leaders and attorneys practicing across Pennsylvania and beyond.
This year’s graduating class represented 10 states and two countries and included 31 first-generation college students and 81 first-generation law students. Students in the Central Pennsylvania Civil Law Clinic closed 157 cases, providing free legal assistance under attorney supervision.
By the end of the ceremony, the numbers and accolades felt secondary to the sense of shared accomplishment inside The Forum, where nearly every speech returned to the same message: no one reaches this moment alone.
As graduates spilled out of The Forum, they carried with them more than law degrees. They left as future advocates, counselors, public servants, and members of a profession that now asks something of them in return.
“There is no single path to success,” Sunday told the class. “Your future is yours to shape.”
