WORCESTER — You’re going to fail, but it’s going to be OK.
That was the message of tempered optimism from multiple speakers, including US Senator Elizabeth Warren, to new graduates at the Worcester State University commencement on Saturday.
“It’s tough, but I have high hopes,” Warren, a Democrat from Cambridge, told the crowd of graduates and their supporters in the DCU Center. “Spot your chances, keep an open mind, consider the unexpected.”
On Saturday, Worcester State graduated 887 new alumni. The hundreds of grads, all clad in black mortarboard caps and gowns, received their diplomas, many pumping their fists or waving to their loved ones cheering in the crowd.
Warren, a prominent progressive senator who’s an outspoken opponent of the Trump administration, spoke to the crowd for about 10 minutes. She briefly touched on politics, criticizing the actions of President Trump’s government without mentioning him.
“Things are really tough right now,” she said, adding that the economy was in trouble. “Americans civil rights are under attack … Immigrant families are being torn apart.”
Warren’s comments in Worcester come as the Central Massachusetts city grapples with the fallout from an incident earlier this month when dozens of Worcester residents clashed with federal immigration authorities who were arresting a woman. The confrontation has spawned protests and led the city to change its policies around immigration-enforcement operations.
Institutions in deep-blue Massachusetts, from the Congressional delegation, to the state government, to many of its universities, have positioned themselves in opposition to Trump. That’s led the administration to single out colleges such as Harvard University for funding cuts and vows of more immigration enforcement in the state.
In the DCU Center, Warren continued: “This is why we need people who can change their plans.” She paused to allow for a cheer before adding, “People who will fight.”
Warren, clad in a red graduation robe with black accents, largely spoke about her personal story, one she’s traced often during stump speeches during her senatorial and presidential runs. She spoke to the graduates about receiving a degree from the University of Houston and happily starting a job teaching elementary school before being fired after she became pregnant.
“If you get laid off, and you feel like you’ve been punched in the face, that is not forever,” she said. “
“Be open to change. Sometimes it comes as a punch in the face.”
Earlier in the ceremony, student speaker Daniel Hsu touched on similar themes during an emotional speech to his fellow class of 2025 grads. He talked about starting his college career at a different college in a Division 1 soccer program before injuring his knee and spiraling out of school.
“I’m a failure, a disappointment, a washed-up athlete — these were the ways I defined myself at the start of my college career,” he said. But he ended up here at Worcester State and thrived, he said. He’s graduating with a degree in business administration and the start of a career in finance.
“A special place and group of people have led me to discover a path that was right in front of me that I was unwilling to see,” he said. “Our world is full of uncertainties. We don’t know, but that’s OK.”
The ceremony ended with a few grads hurling their hats into the air as the crowd roared.
A few minutes later, psychology major Madison Avilla of Westport took a moment to reflect. She’s nervous, she said, but in a good way.
“I’m excited about what’s to come,” she said, smiling in her cap and gown.
Outside the DCU Center, Christina Soter sighed.
“It’s been a long journey,” she said.
She displayed her cap proudly. The math major had a pi symbol in the middle, and all of the 10th graders she’d student taught this past semester had written their first names in a rainbow of colors on the cap’s flat top.
This coming year, she’s going to be a high school math teacher in Worcester, her home city.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.