A graduation to remember
Graduates bid adieu to Moody and move on to exceptional careers
(From left to right) Christine Holley, Communication Council President Madison Morris and Xavier Ingram at the 2024 Moody College graduation. Photo by Lizzie Chen
(From left to right) Christine Holley, Class President Madison Morris and Xavier Ingram at the 2024 Moody College graduation. Photo by Lizzie Chen
Madison Morris always wanted to work in sports media. She applied to The University of Texas at Austin during the pandemic, aware of the caliber of its programs and feeling a bit of “imposter syndrome.” She thought she’d never get in.
This May, she turned her tassel in one of the most joyous and emotional graduation ceremonies in Moody College history, earning her journalism and public relations degrees. She was one of more than 1,1000 Moody students to get her diploma, many of whom graduated high school in 2020 when traditional commencement ceremonies were canceled because of the pandemic.
“Four years ago, I went home for spring break and never returned to high school,” Morris, who was last year’s Communication Council president, said during a moving graduation speech. “Standing here and graduating in person with some of my family and closest friends is surreal, to say the least.”
At the ceremony, Alison Eakle, chief content officer for the production company Shondaland and a radio-television-film alumna, gave the keynote address. She recalled her own college graduation ceremony, which happened just after 9/11, and the grief the nation was feeling at that time.
“Perhaps counterintuitively, it encouraged me to move towards hope and community and telling stories that might make everyone feel less alone and more seen,” she said.
Over the past two decades, Eakle has co-produced some of the biggest shows on television, including “Queen Charlotte,” “How to Get Away with Murder” and the wildly acclaimed “Bridgerton.”
“As the exceptional graduates of Moody College, you’ll be asked to choose every day not only what you communicate with your voice but the voices you amplify. You’ll be asked to help people actually hear each other,” she said in her speech. “I cannot wait to see what you do with this immense power.”
This year’s graduates head into successful careers in roles such as corporate communication analyst, art director, audio producer, media coordinator, clinical technician and more at companies including Dell Technologies, TikTok, Bleacher Report, the Houston Chronicle, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures and Proctor & Gamble.
“I’m really going to miss the creative community at Moody,” said Will Florer, a radio-television-film and Plan II Honors graduate. “If you want to make a film, build an advertising campaign, or do any number of other projects, you are lucky because you have tons of creative people who want to help you right there in the college.”
Read some of the notes our graduates wrote to us about their favorite memories on the Forty Acres.
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