Winston Mugford, Class of 2023 Student Commencement Speaker

Winston Mugford, graduating with a Master of Teaching from the University of Richmond School of Professional & Continuing Studies, was selected by faculty to present remarks on behalf of graduating SPCS students at 2023 Commencement Exercises on May 6, 2023.

In his speech, reproduced below, Mugford encouraged fellow graduates to remain connected to and involved in the University of Richmond community, upon which they can rely for support.

Video Address

Starts at Dean Wilson’s introduction of Mugford as speaker.

Commencement Address

Thank you…

First off, no, I did not have ChatGPT write this speech. Secondly, if anyone knows how to get my students to stop using it to write papers, find me later, because I would love to know.

As we are all well aware, we are living in rapidly changing times. Education, in particular, has undergone massive changes in recent years. For some of us graduating today, we began our journey at SPCS during the height of the COVID pandemic, which meant much of our time was spent in virtual class sessions. We were forced to adapt to a new way of learning — but we were helped every step of the way by our incredible professors, who themselves were forced to adapt to new methods of teaching. Yes, change and adaptation are challenging. My own family would probably tell you that I do not do well with change!

But I am always working on improving that. Why? Because the times when we are forced to adapt to the changing world around us are when our greatest moments of growth occur. So many of us here decided to change careers. That was one of the reasons why we came to the University of Richmond and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. And look at us now: many of us have started a new career, joined a new professional community, and have begun a new phase in our lives. Look how much we have grown!

It is inevitable that life will continue to throw challenges our way. Our lack of certainty about what form those challenges will take is what gives us pause. We do not know what changes await us. That is what scares us. So, then, how do we face an uncertain future?

I believe that the key lies in knowing that we do not face the future or its challenges, alone. We face them together. In times of great change, community is more important than ever. And that is exactly what we have in this room. Each of us is a member of a community, upon which we can rely for support as we face the future and its challenges. It is so important that we each make a conscious effort to remain connected to and involved in this community, because unfortunately, one of the changes taking place in our modern world is a growing disconnection of individuals from their communities. It is so easy for us to recede into our personal bubbles, connecting with the world and each other mostly through our smartphones. But Instagram and Facebook are not sufficient replacements for real, genuine, human communities.

So, what is my advice today? Stay connected to this real, genuine, human community. Let us promise to stay involved in each other’s lives. Let us promise to continue as members of the SPCS community at the University of Richmond, to become mentors like the ones that have helped us learn and adapt along the way. If we do this, we will be lifting up each other — but the truth is that we will also be pursuing happiness for ourselves, because we are social creatures; we need each other. And in times of great change like we are living through today, our need for a strong community is also greater.

As we move forward, let us continue to learn from each other, to grow together, and to celebrate all that we have achieved. Congratulations to everyone in this room today. I am honored to be a part of this community.

Biographical Sketch

Winston Mugford is a social studies teacher in Henrico County at J.R. Tucker High School. He entered the Master of Teaching program at the University of Richmond SPCS after being inspired by the example of his wife, Shelby Mugford, GC’20, who is also an SPCS alum. He is a Richmond native, and he graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.