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As the Class of 2026 prepares to leave the Hill, two familiar voices offered one final set of reflections — part celebration, part charge, and part closing remarks. 

At St. Olaf College’s annual Last Lecture, speakers nominated by the senior class take the stage to share parting words with the graduating students. This year’s speakers, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Jake Grossman and Director of Student Activities Branden Cash ‘16, approached that task from different angles: the former offering a sweeping call to rethink freedom in a fractured world, and the latter delivering a personal set of lessons drawn from a decade of life beyond — and back on — the Hill. 

Grossman’s Last Lecture centered on a question that has long shaped public life but feels newly urgent: what does it mean to be free?

Drawing from contemporary politics, philosophy, and environmental concerns, Grossman challenged the idea that freedom simply means the absence of constraints. Instead, he argued, much of what is often labeled as “liberty” in modern American discourse can leave individuals feeling anything but free. 

“Negative freedom has always played at least some part in humanity’s aspirations, and all the more so as the capitalists, ideologues, and opportunists of the 20th and 21st centuries have learned that telling people that they are free to do whatever they want often means that their leaders are free to do whatever they want to them,” he said. “Very few of us look around at our burning climate, our unequal society, our incredibly wealthy yet seemingly dissipated institutions, our failed attempts at racial reconciliation and healing, and think highly of where all of this freedom has gotten us.”

The lecture reframed freedom as something that must be built on the personal level. Drawing on historian Timothy Snyder’s concept of “positive freedom,” Grossman outlined five practices necessary for a flourishing society: autonomy, unpredictability, mobility, factuality, and solidarity. 

“Where negative freedom asks how to remove constraints, positive freedom asks how to provide support,” he said. “Postive freedom invites us to dream of what comes next when we all have clean water. Positive freedom funds the campaigns of all reputable and widely supported candidates. This is the world that we will build together — I say this not only grounded in my own deep faith and in what I have seen from all of you, but also based on the reality of historical fact.”

The talk turned toward possibility. Using the monarch butterfly as a central metaphor, Grossman encouraged graduates to embrace three lessons: to evolve by leaning into their strengths, to migrate by remaining open to movement and connection, and to undergo metamorphosis by embracing change. 

“Evolve, migrate, and metamorphose,” he said. “This is what we as individuals and as a society so desperately need. In the end, it feels perhaps a little silly to give a Last Lecture in which I tell you to be free like butterflies, but with deep love, respect, and hope for you all, I will do just that. Class of 2026, congratulations, and please make the world your freedom.”

If Grossman’s lecture zoomed out to consider systems and society, Cash’s parting words turned inward, offering a deeply personal reflection on what it means to navigate life after college. 

Cash reflected on his own time as a commencing student a decade ago, noting how quickly the years since graduation had passed. 

“It is stupefying — and a little nauseating — that 10 years ago, I was sitting exactly where you all are,” he said. 

From that point, Cash’s address unfolded as a series of 10 lessons, each grounded in lived experience. Some were tried and true — “life is not a spectator sport” — while others were more intimate, urging students to embrace vulnerability, seek support, and remain open to growth. 

A recurring theme was the importance of connection: showing up for others, expressing love openly, and building communities that reflect one’s values. 

“Person-to-person connection is critical, friends. Find people that you can process life’s mess with, even if you pay a copay for it. Holding that inside rarely results in something productive,” Cash said. “Say ‘I love you’ to the people in your life who’ve earned it. What you put out there will come back to you, so lead with love whenever possible, both for others and for yourselves.

Other lessons encouraged students to embrace uncertainty and possibility. Plans may change, Cash noted, but values can serve as a constant guide. 

“My values have consistently asked more of me than my plans ever have,” he reflected. “Your degrees, credentials, resumes, and graduation cords are all grand artifacts of what you have achieved here — and they pale in comparison to your character, your values, and your integrity.” 

Cash closed with a reminder for students to “keep their spoons” for life’s desserts, and a reflection on what this class year has meant to him. 

“Saying goodbye to this class is not easy for me. You all have challenged me, you’ve changed me, and reminded me on more days than you know why what I do matters,” he shared. “In my sadness, however, I recognize that this is really more of a ‘see you later’ than a ‘goodbye’, because friends, like it or not, we are on the same reunion cycle for life.”

As the Class of 2026 prepares to cross the commencement stage, they do so with both a set of questions and a set of tools — an invitation to build a more just and connected world, and a reminder that growth, like freedom, is something practiced over a lifetime.