Adorned in a green and black ceremonial robe, native St. Louisan, and star of the former NBC Emmy and Golden Globe nominated drama series, “This Is Us,” actor Sterling K. Brown delivered the commencement speech for Washington University’s 2023 Graduates.
“Class of 2023, you did it,” Brown told the cheering crowd of graduates.
After noting the students “years of hard work and dedication,” Brown encouraged them to embrace “the next chapter” of their lives and not fall into “the routine of comfort.” For the past few years,” Brown said, Washington University has been “your home, your sanctuary. And it’s been a good home, right?”
“I’m straight outta Barnes Hospital, ya’ll,” Brown joked before using his own “St. Louis story” to illustrate the necessity of stepping outside one’s comfort zone so values can shift and expand.
Brown attended MICDS (Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School) He said he and his siblings grew up in a loving but strict, stable home with both parents in the house who believed in corporal punishment and tough love. He left home clinging to the values of his childhood. But leaving was liberation.
“The indoctrination of home can oftentimes be at odds with the evolution of the soul,” Brown said, adding that graduates may discover that the people they have the most “common ground with” may not be of their “ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, gender or sexual orientation.”
Brown ended his dissertation encouraging graduates to represent their school while continuing to “mind the depths of the soul as we explore the vastness of the universe…replace fear with curiosity knowing that growth requires discomfort…become the next best version of ourselves and to step away from home knowing that you’ll always be welcomed back.”
