Hats Off, Heart Full: A Poem for 2025 Grads

SPRING 2025

Congratulations!

Eliana Du, Sophomore at Princeton University*

You’ve made it to graduation!

You’ve put in the hours, shown up to class,

owned up to mistakes, and made friendships to last —

one blink and somehow four years have passed.

There have been ups and downs, people lost and found,

tears shed in the dead of night and ab-building laughter

released in lunchtime light. And through it all,

you’ve grown — in more than just what you know.

On graduation day, when people ask,

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

know that the question itself has loose ends to sew up.

When you grow up? When you grow up?

As though there comes a day

when you stop growing, stuck in your ways.

Veteran or veterinarian, teacher or preacher —

regardless of the future you foresee for yourself,

know that there is no stepping-stone road to a life lived well,

no success without more than one guess.

Remember 9th grade? How tall the seniors seemed!

Graduation, then, was the whisper of a dream.

Yet here you are: both changed and the same, 

breathless becoming into who you are today.

Skip into what’s next in the same way

you’ve stepped so far;

take the lessons you’ve learned

and let your thoughts continue turning.

Though the future is uncertain behind the inky sky,

let us have pride in the soles that have held us for the ride.

You’ve got the ability to do more than survive —

just let yourself be unsure most of the time

and trust in the self that yearns to truly thrive.

On that note, one more time: congrats to the Class of 2025!

* Eliana is a former client who is now a friend.