Graduates walk slowly down the aisles during the opening of the Pennsylvania College of Technology 2026 Spring Commencement at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport. Hundreds of family and friends watched the annual ceremony Friday afternoon. Friday’s commencement speaker was Miranda Sofia Mohammad, Saturday’s was Lauren Peck and Sunday’s speaker was Giovannia Antonio Barbarossa. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

n his closing remarks to the 2026 Spring graduates in the Schools of Business, Arts and Science, Nursing and Health Sciences at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Dr. Michael J. Reed, president at the school, commended them for their grit.

“Grit is required to meet meaningful goals,” said Reed, quoting Angela Duckworth.

“To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting purpose. To be gritty is to push forward day after week after year in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times and rise eight,” he said.

“As you leave Penn College to embark on your personal and professional journeys, know this: things will not always turn out the way you intended or hoped for. However, your grit and your determination will help you persevere and keep moving forward,” he added.

Noting how the college’s faculty and industry experts have “worked you unapologetically hard to ensure you would reach this milestone you have achieved today,” Reed said that “their aim was to help you discover just how incredible you can be, and to place you in the best position for long-term success.”

“Your skills learned here at Penn College, along with your grit and determination, will help you chart your course. Every person’s course in life is different, and we are confident you are all well prepared to go out and start making a difference. he said.

The ceremony, the first of three for the college, was held Friday at the Journey Bank Community Arts Center. Two commencements were also held on Saturday.

Student speaker for the event was nursing student Miranda Sofia Mohammed, who certainly exemplified what Reed spoke about as a person’s course in life being different.

In her introduction of Mohammed, Jennifer McLean, dean of students at Penn College, said that the graduate began her path in Pakistan where she grew up and that her “purpose as a nurse has never been about a career as much as it has been about a calling.”

“Miranda grew up in Pakistan, where she witnessed firsthand what a struggling health care system looks like, communities without adequate medical facilities, patients without access to care that they needed, and a gap that only trained, committed health care professionals could begin to fill,” McLean said.

“That experience didn’t discourage her, it focused her. Miranda came to the United States with a clear sense of why health care matters, and what nurses, in particular, are capable of doing, she made her way to Philadelphia, where she worked at an urgent care center and observed nurse practitioners treating patients day in and day out. She asked questions, she paid attention, and she made a decision. Nursing was her path, not because it was easy, but because she wanted to be hands-on with patients present in the room at the bedside in the moments that matter most,” she added.

She noted that Mohammed had already earned a degree in health studies from Temple University when she decided to enroll at Penn College.

“But she wasn’t here to check a box. She was here to become a nurse. Today she completes her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and with it she earns the credential that will take her where she has always intended to go. Her clinical experience alone tells the story of a student who sought out the full spectrum of nursing care,” McLean said.

Speaking to her fellow graduates Mohammed admitted that “starting over was not easy.”

“There were moments I asked myself, am I really going to do this all over again? But my dream was always bigger than my fear,” she said.

Although many of her remarks were directed at those she had spent time with in the nursing program citing the “long clinical and lab hours and overwhelming workloads,” and caring “for patients fighting the hardest battles of their lives, how to hold a scared patient’s hand, how to advocate when no one else would, and how to lead with compassion,” Mohammed said, “whether you were a nursing major or pursuing another path, these are more than just jobs, they’re a calling.”

“To the graduates of every other major, today belongs to you too. Your discipline, resilience, and belief in yourself brought you here. You showed up every single day when motivation was low and stress was high, writing research papers that never seemed to end, torturous long hours in the labs, and missing out on memorable life events,” she said.

“This was not easy, but all of those sacrifices were worth it, because you’re sitting here in this moment right now, and most importantly, today is a representation of your growth. None of you got here by accident, so be very proud of this moment. We are the future and the leaders of tomorrow,” she said.

Reed also brought home the fact that the commencement is the stepping off for students into the paths they will follow in the future.

“Industry is in dire need of highly skilled problem solvers like you, and you are just getting started. We are excited for you and for the differences you will make within your profession and your community,” he said.

“Honor your core values and continue to focus on your goals. Dig deep when things get hard, although you may feel like you can’t possibly work through that challenging situation, you absolutely will, through your grit and your determination, and those challenges do make you stronger and will lead you to opportunities you might not be able to imagine today,” he continued.

“Your commitment to lifelong learning has served you well and will continue to serve you in the future, you should be justifiably proud of what you accomplished to get here today, and we too are justifiably proud of what you’ve accomplished thus far to place your long-term aspirations within reach. We can’t wait to hear what awaits on your horizon,” he added.