Graduation speakers announced
The students and guest speakers were chosen for 2026 commencement.
As the academic year comes to a close, CSB+SJU announced the selected speakers for the two commencement ceremonies.
CSB’s graduation ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 16 at 3 p.m. in the field house at the Haehn Community Center, with Ana Dailey (CSB ‘26) and Sally Koering Zimney (CSB ‘99) speaking.
Separately, SJU’s commencement will take place on Saturday, May 16 at 11 a.m. in the Abbey Church, with Robert Christy (SJU ‘26) and Dr. Michael Kelly (SJU ‘20) speaking.
Dailey, who was voted to speak by her peers, is a psychology and hispanic studies double major.
She is president of the Irish Dance club, a peer manager at the Experience Hub, volunteer at Campus Ministry and a Theatre scholarship recipient.
She said she is grateful for the opportunities she is a part of at CSB+SJU.
“Something that I love most about going to St. Ben’s, I know we say it all the time, but just a deep sense of belonging and community that I’ve really built over these four years,” Dailey said. “I love that there’s so many opportunities to learn here, like going to different talks and taking classes on subjects that are not really in my major but that I’m passionate about.”
She also said that her relationships with her professors played a role in her success, citing professors Steven Lemke and Julie Lynch as having been instrumental in the writing of her speech.
“It’s been really cool that the act of writing this speech has been such a collaborative process with these people, because I think that really reflects the value of community that we have here. It’s not just me thinking about what I want to say but I’m really garnishing a lot of wisdom from other people too,” Dailey said.
Christy, SJU’s student speaker, is a global business major. He was not available to comment at the time of publication. Student speakers were required to submit their speeches this Friday to allow time for them to be studied by an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter for the event.
Zimney graduated from St. Ben’s with a bachelor’s in theatre and English and was the 1999 CSB commencement speaker. She has a master’s degree from Goddard College and is currently the founder and speaker coach at BeMoved.
Dr. Kelly was the first neuroscience major to graduate from CSB+SJU. He was involved in the peer resource program, the first-generation organization and Outdoor U among other things. He went on to the University of Minnesota for medical school and currently works at Mayo Clinic as a resident doctor.
