What makes a commencement special?

There are a couple of key ingredients: students celebrating, proud families hooting and hollering encouragement, pageantry, music, big arenas. The personal moments are what bring the day to life. Long speeches? Usually less so.

Not so, however, at New England Institute of Technology’s commencement this past Sunday, where NEIT’s speaker, actress Rita Moreno, ended up getting some of the most rousing applause of the whole day.

Moreno, age 92, began her stardom in Hollywood’s golden age, with major roles in Singin’ in the Rain, Westside Story, and The King and I. Over her decades-long career, with major roles as recent as 2023’s Fast X, Moreno became the first Latina actress, and one of a select few artists of any background for that matter, with an EGOT – an individual Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award.

Given these prior heights, it was no surprise Moreno was completely at ease on the stage at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, bounding up the steps to the podium and delivering a speech that included a singing interlude and practically a full comedy set, too.  The message from the star to the graduates? We’re the same.

“Many of you are the first in your family to enroll in college” said Moreno. “Your stories are an inspiration to me.” Moreno related her own stories of overcoming hardship, immigrating at age five from Puerto Rico with her seamstress mother, breaking through with her first roles only to find herself repeatedly pigeonholed into whatever token non-white character was available – an insult that continued even after she began to receive major accolades.

Each win, even graduating from college, Moreno seemed to say in her address, brings a new challenge. However, she added, at the end, you get to look back and see a pretty good journey. Moreno’s closing line was delivered with a fist banging down on the podium for emphasis: “Never, ever, give up. Congratulations, and here’s to your dreams.”

Cranston students awarded
NEIT degrees Sunday:

Abdullah Alhilali AS, Zachary Almeida AS, Alexis Alves AS, Naja Brown BS, Stacy Calabro AS, Joseph Chiarella BS, Angelina Colasante AS, Erick Cordon Jr AS, Tori Davis BS, Jake Fernandes AS, Anthony Ferri AS, Joel Flores BS, Gerardo Gonzalez AS, Noah Gougher AS, Kim Hout BS, Morgan Kenney AS, Tatum Kumes AS, Matthew Lepore AS, David Malek Jr BS, Julie Maxwell MS, Spencer McClure AS,  Kaitlyn Melfi AS, Catherine Nova AS, Matthew Procaccini BS, David Richards Jr AS, James Ring AS, Samantha Robinson AS, Johan Rodriguez AS, Atreyul Ruiz BS,  Ryan Serpa AS, Aidan Tibbetts AS, Ann Marie Vona AS, Travis Williamson AS, and Brittany Zalomski CERT.