‘Black excellence is never a solo act’

“The McMaster community gathered in L.R. Wilson Concert Hall on May 19 for a powerful afternoon of celebration, community and culture at the 5th Annual Black Excellence Graduate Celebration. Organized by the Black Student Success Centre (BSSC), the event celebrated McMaster’s Black graduating students and their outstanding achievements. Graduands from all six faculties attended, along with their family, friends and McMaster staff and faculty, who loudly and enthusiastically cheered them on. Black Student Career and Postgraduate Specialist Chinazo Okereke waves as she gets a shout-out for leading the organization of this year’s Black Grad. (Georgia Kirkos, McMaster University) Faith Ogunkoya, who led Black Grad in previous years in her former role as manager of Black Student Success Centre, opened the event with a heartfelt tribute to the class of 2026. “Today is for them,” Ogunkoya said. “They’ve worked for this. They have studied, stretched, carried responsibilities, supported one another, made difficult decisions and kept moving. Some of what it took to arrive here is visible, and most of it is not. But this room knows that their journey matters.” “Black Grad exists because recognition matters. It matters that you as their family members and community see them celebrated. And it matters that Black students are not only present in this institution, but honoured in it, fully, publicly, and without apology.” Faith Ogunkoya gives the BSSC Kuumba Award to Oyinloluwa Aderibigbe at the 2026 Black Excellence Graduate Celebration. (Georgia Kirkos, McMaster University) The theme of this year’s celebration was “Aya — Rooted in Community, Rising in Excellence.” In Adinkra tradition, Aya is the fern — a symbol of endurance, resourcefulness and independence. At this year’s celebration, it spoke to the BSSC as both home and roots, and the graduates as the ones rising, surrounded by a village of support. Nana Ofori-Opoku, an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering, gave the community welcome address, in which he addressed a recent loss that’s been “quite heavy for our community,” the passing of Juliet Daniel , a Distinguished University Professor and proud Barbadian-Canadian. Daniel’s impact on the institution, and so many within it, can’t really be measured, Ofori-Opoku said. “She created space for people to feel seen. She created space for difficult conversations … and she created space for Black students and faculty not only to imagine ourselves here, not as visitors, but as people who truly belong and who could shape this institution.” “That creation of space matters deeply in the context of today,” Ofori-Opoku said. Professor Nana Ofori-Opoku pays tribute to Distinguished University Professor Juliet Daniel at the 2026 Black Excellence Graduate Celebration. (Georgia Kirkos, McMaster University) “The fact that you are all here matters … many of you may have balanced coursework, financial pressures, family obligations or responsibilities, cultural expectations, and the pressures that come with navigating spaces where you may at times have felt isolated or underestimated.” “And yet despite it all, you persevered, you persisted through community.” Community builder and entrepreneur Lohifa Pogoson Acker led the Kente Stole ceremony, an important symbolic and cultural affirmation of academic pride. Lohifa Pogoson Acker speaks at the Black Excellence Graduate Celebration. (Georgia Kirkos, McMaster University) Acker recalled being the only Black student at her convocation ceremony when she graduated from the University of British Columbia 21 years ago, and her family being the only Black family there. “I felt celebrated, but I didn’t feel seen,” she said. Addressing the graduands directly, she said, “You are answers to a prayer I prayed 21 years ago. That prayer was answered here five years ago and continues to be answered every year that these graduation ceremonies are held.” Each student’s name reverberated through the room as they stood and received their stoles. Family and friends kept up with booming applause throughout. By the time Chancellor Nicholas Brathwaite took the stage to deliver the keynote speech, he was already holding back tears. “Forgive me if I’m a little bit emotional,” Brathwaite started his speech. “As I look at the students here, you guys represent probably twice the number of Black students we had here when I was a student.” Brathwaite, a venture capital investor and McMaster graduate, stepped into his new role as Chancellor at the start of 2026, and was officially installed as the university’s chancellor at convocation ceremonies this week. Nicholas Brathwaite speaks at the 2026 Black Excellence Graduate Celebration. (Georgia Kirkos, McMaster University) He shared a personal story about the multigenerational impact of his grandfather choosing to invest in education, and encouraged the graduands to see their degree “for what it truly is: a long-term investment with the potential for extraordinary compound returns, not just for you, but for generations.” He noted that excellence is never a solo act. “Someone believed in you long before you came to McMaster University,” he said. “You are a product of an extraordinary investment that was made by many others.” “Parents made sacrifices so that you could be here. Aunties, uncles, grandparents, they sent money, they prayed for you. Teachers and professors saw your potential. Friends stayed up late helping you study and talking you out of quitting.” Brathwaite shared that his grandfather, Charlie, never lived to see his son become an educator, knight and prime minister; and Brathwaite’s own parents didn’t live to see him become a university chancellor. “But every time I walk into a classroom, a boardroom, or I stand at a podium like this, I am also carrying my grandfather’s original investment … his vision that his children’s lives would be different because of education.” His gratitude to his grandfather, parents, and many others who invested in him can’t be repaid directly, Brathwaite said. “The only meaningful way to honour them is to leverage the education I received to create opportunities for others. And that, I would like to suggest, is what gratitude should look like for you as well.” Gratitude isn’t just in thank-you texts and photos, Brathwaite said. “The best way, and maybe the only way, to demonstrate true gratitude to those who invested in you is to leverage the education that you’ve received to make a difference … and measure your performance, not based on titles and salaries, but by the number of lives that you were able to make better.” “My hope is that you will remember this story … so that over the years, when a future graduate tells their own Charlie story, your name will appear in the list of the people who invested in [them].” Swipe through the gallery below for more images from the day The post ‘Black excellence is never a solo act’ appeared first on McMaster News .

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