The 571 graduates are urged to make a difference in today’s world by using their IHP education to make a difference in their patients’ lives

For the 571 new graduates of MGH Institute of Health Professions, today’s Commencement ceremony was a time to celebrate earning their degree from the Boston graduate school.

“I could not be more excited to be here,” said Madison Homsey, a Windham, NH resident who earned her Master of Science in Nursing degree. “I’m feeling really grateful. The Institute really prepared us for practice, and we’ve all worked very hard to make it.”

“You know, it feels like yesterday when we started,” added her classmate, Fiona Hart. “The IHP has been a really great place to go to school. We’ve formed close relationships with each other but also with our professors and I’ve had some really great clinical experiences. So, it’s been awesome.”

Held at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center before more than 3,000 family, friends, classmates, and IHP staffers, the IHP’s 44th graduation exercise was a day marked by speakers who exhorted the new graduates to make their mark in an increasingly diverse and complex world. 

President Paula Milone-Nuzzo reminded the new graduates they were poised to do great things and be part of improving the world during such a fraught moment in time.

“I hope you are eager to get to work so that decades from now you can look back and say you left things better than when you found them,” she said. “Now, more than ever, the country’s stark racial, health, and economic inequities are all too obvious to continue to be ignored. You can contribute to the solutions of these systemic problems by continuing your commitment to act against racism, standing up for social justice and equality, and fighting for those who have experienced oppression and marginalization based on the color of their skin.”

The day also included honorary degrees being awarded to former New England Patriot great Tedy Bruschi and his wife, Heidi, the perseverance of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jessica Kensky in completing her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, and the first graduating class of the Master of Science in Healthcare Data Analytics program.