We are pleased to announce plans for our 150th Commencement and upcoming celebrations for the Class of 2025!

150th Commencement
Saturday, May 24, 2025

Cushing Academy is excited to celebrate the graduating Class of 2025. We hope you will join us in celebration! If you are unable to attend, we will be livestreaming both our Friday Awards Ceremony and Saturday Graduation.

Livestream Links

Awards Ceremony Livestream (Friday, May 23 at 3:30 pm)
Commencement Livestream (Saturday, May 24 at 10:00 am)

Commencement Speaker: Mónica Guzmán

Mónica Guzmán, bridge builder, journalist, and author of this year’s Cushing Community Read book I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times is Cushing Academy's 2025 Commencement speaker.

Guzmán is the founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity, an organization working to build a world that sees itself; Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, the nation’s largest cross-partisan grassroots organization working to depolarize America; and host of A Braver Way, a podcast that equips people with the tools they need to bridge the political divide in their everyday lives. 

Her book has been featured in The New York Times, the Glenn Beck podcast, the Here’s Where it Gets Interesting podcast, Reader's Digest, and U.S. News, which named it “one of the 10 best books to read before college.” 

A graduate of Bowdoin College, Mónica received an honorary doctorate degree from Wheaton College, and completed study and research fellowships at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, where she researched how journalists can rethink their roles to better meet the needs of a participatory public; the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, where she studied social and political division; and the University of Florida, where she worked with researchers to better understand ways to employ techniques described in her book to boost understanding. 

Mónica serves as an advisor for Starts With Us and the Generations Over Dinner project, is on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Multipartisan Education, and plays a barbarian named Shadrack in her besties’ Dungeons & Dragons campaign. 

A Mexican immigrant, Latina, and dual US/Mexico citizen, she lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. You can read more about her and her work at moniguzman.com.

Graduation Weekend Schedule

Friday, May 23, 2025

• 3:30 pm - Awards Ceremony and Cum Laude Recognition (Tent on Drew Common)
  Most department and academic awards—excluding valedictorian, salutatorian, and a few community and academic awards—will be presented at this ceremony. All parents and guests are welcome to attend. If your son or daughter will be receiving an award, you will be notified in advance by the Academic Office. This event will be livestreamed.
  
  Immediately following the Awards Ceremony, students will participate in the annual All-School Handshake on Quimby Field.
• 6:00-7:30 pm - Graduation Dinner for Class of 2025 and Parents (Fisher-Watkins Dining Commons)
  Seating is limited; an RSVP invitation will be sent to graduate families via email.

Saturday, May 24, 2025

• 8:00-9:30 am - Breakfast (Fisher-Watkins Dining Commons)
  All guests are welcome.
• 10:00 am - Graduation Exercises (Tent on Drew Common)
  While there is open seating in the tent, there is a special reserved front section for parents. Each graduate will receive two reserved seats in this section. The location of your family’s two seats is determined by lottery, and you will receive the location upon arrival at the tent. All other guests in your party are welcome to find seats of their choosing in the non-reserved areas of the tent.
• 11:30 am-1:30 pm - Luncheon
  All guests are welcome to enjoy lunch following the ceremony.
• Departure from Campus
  Seniors and their families depart campus following the luncheon, no later than 3:00 pm. Underclass students remain on campus for final exams.

Please Note: This is a placeholder schedule. Events and timing are subject to change. The program for Commencement will be finalized before invitations are sent out.

Additional Commencement Notes

Reserved and General Seating
Each graduate has two reserved seats for Commencement, which require checking in at the table by the entrance to the tent (opposite Carlisle Hall). 

All other family members and guests can proceed to the general seating area and select any available, unmarked seat. Please find your open seats promptly and avoid congregating around the check-in table.

Please get in touch with Colleen Fay at [email protected] or (978) 827-7102 for questions regarding your seating.

Parking
On graduation day, all road access to the interior of our campus will be blocked. Parking will be directed to the baseball field (Adams Field), and golf carts and air-conditioned buses will be available to shuttle visitors to and from the event tent.

If members of your party have mobility issues, please get in touch with Colleen Fay at [email protected] or (978) 827-7102 and we will give your party access to limited parking in the admissions parking lot.

Breakfast + Luncheon
All guests to commencement are invited to join us for breakfast and a celebratory luncheon. Breakfast will be served in the Fisher-Watkins Dining Commons from 8:00 to 9:30 am. Lunch will be available immediately following graduation exercises, from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm.

Departure from Campus
Graduates and their families should say their final goodbyes and check out of their dorm rooms by 3:00 pm.

Invitations

Cushing provides each student with printed invitations to send to family and friends. Parents will receive an invitation directly from the Academy in the mail.

Student Attire for Graduation

Cushing will provide each student with academic regalia, consisting of a cap and gown, for the Commencement ceremony to accompany the student’s special academic dress attire. Students are not permitted to substitute any academic regalia for what is provided by Cushing.

All students are expected to dress for Commencement and other end-of-year ceremonies in accordance with the Special Academic Dress policy of Cushing Academy’s Community Handbook.
 

Lodging

If you require an overnight stay in the area before Commencement, we suggest that you secure a reservation soon. Please be aware that there is limited hotel availability in the area. 

Hotels

The Colonial Hotel
625 Betty Spring Road
Gardner, MA 01440
978.630.2500
(6.5 miles)

Great Wolf Lodge
150 Great Wolf Drive
Fitchburg, MA 01420
978.343.9653
(9 miles)

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
99 Erdman Way, 
Leominster, MA 01453
978.534.9000
(14 miles)

Springhill Suites by Marriott – Devens Commons Center
27 Andrews Parkway
Devens, MA
978.772.3030
(23 miles)
 

Inns and Bed and Breakfasts

The Maguire House
30 Cobb Rd.
Ashburnham, MA01430
978.827.5053   
(1.5 miles)

The Monadnock Inn
379 Main Street
Jaffrey, NH 03452
603.532.7800
(20 miles)

Additional Questions?

Please contact Colleen Fay, Executive Assistant to the Head of School, at (978) 827-7102 or [email protected] if you have any questions or special accommodation needs.