The newest graduates of George Mason University came from 38 states and 87 countries, overcoming obstacles and charting their own paths en route to commencement day.
“You did it!” university president Gregory Washington exclaimed during the university-wide commencement ceremony, held Dec. 18 at EagleBank Arena.
More than 5,300 students were eligible to participate in commencement exercises. Approximately 4,900 earned degrees — bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and law — and 300 earned program certificates.
More than a quarter of them are the first in their families to earn a college degree, university officials said.
Washington noted that the university has come “under immense scrutiny” from the Trump administration in the past year, encouraging students to draw from the experience to forge their own characters.
“Now is the time to determine your values, so when you really need them, you can lean on them,” Washington said. “Make choices and decisions that are rooted in your core values.”
“You didn’t just earn a degree from any old place. You earned a degree from a special place,” he said, asking the graduates to give thanks to parents, siblings, friends, teachers and others who aided them.
“Each of you had support along the way,” he said. “Thank the people who accompanied you on the journey.”
Speaking for the graduates was Ayham Elayan, who earned a bachelor of science degree in bioengineering at the commencement ceremony.
The day represented “an immense milestone in our lives” coming at the end of “years of hard work, dedication and well-earned success,” he said.
“Whether you’re graduating in three and a half years, four and a half years or 10 and a half years, whatever steps you took that brought you here today were meant to happen, and you’re exactly where you are meant to be,” Elayan added.
Elayan was among those who combined academics with service during his years at Mason.
He was part of a team of bioengineering students who traveled to Quito, Ecuador and partnered with the Range of Motion Project to build and fit 22 people with prosthetic limbs in a week’s time.
Elayan also is part of a Mason family at home — three of his four siblings also attend George Mason, according to university officials.
Delivering the commencement address was Ali Reza Manouchehri, a 1999 Mason graduate who earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy.
While at the university, Manouchehri cofounded the artificial intelligence startup firm MetroStar, which he continues to lead as CEO today. With headquarters in Reston and Bloomingdale, Indiana, the company recently partnered with GMU to provide scholarships and other resources for business school students looking to enter government contracting.
Manouchehri told graduates that before charging into the future, they needed to take a quick look back.
“Today is more than about what you achieved. It’s how you got here,” he said.
The speaker pointed to his own experience in Fairfax County Public Schools, reflecting on how a science teacher at Glasgow Middle School was responsible for instilling a love of learning.
“He was eccentric, brilliant, mysterious,” Manouchehri said. “He saw something in me — he saw my curiosity and he gave it direction.”
In addition to the Dec. 18 ceremony for all eligible students university-wide, degree celebrations for nine individual George Mason schools and colleges were being held during the week.
According to university officials:
- The top five majors among the 3,107 undergraduates in the winter Class of 2025 were business, computer science, psychology, information technology and criminology/law/society
- Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors accounted for 30% of students earning bachelor’s degrees and 37% of students earning advanced degrees
- For the 1,647 students earning master’s degrees, the top five majors were data-analytics engineering, special education, computer science, accounting and business administration
- The top majors for the 190 students earning doctoral degrees were education, computer science, psychology, biosciences, economics, and statistical science
- The winter class included three law-school graduates
In his remarks, Washington noted that Dec. 11 had marked the 300th anniversary of the university’s namesake, George Mason.
He joked that there had been a suggestion to exchange caps and gowns for party hats at commencement, but officials opted against it.
Mason is the largest public university in Virginia, edging out Virginia Tech in total student enrollment with approximately 40,00 students.
