On Saturday afternoon, students, family and friends gathered in Salomon DECI to celebrate the Midyear Completion Ceremony, recognizing students who completed their requirements for the baccalaureate degree in December 2025 rather than in May.
Out of over 100 expected fall 2025 graduates, more than 60 of them attended the event, Dean of the College Ethan Pollock wrote in an email to The Herald.
The mid-year ceremony celebrates “those who are fortunate enough to be members of not one, but two classes,” Pollock said during his opening remarks. He added that with their unique paths to graduation — whether it’s arriving as a transfer, taking a leave of absence or graduating early — the 0.5ers are equipped to handle the “daunting” future and are “familiar with changing plans and unpredictability of the world.”
Two student speakers — Suhaila Hashimi ’25.5 and Vanya Noel ’25.5 — recounted their stories and experiences at Brown, tracing the paths that led them to become 0.5ers.
Hashimi, a business economics and data science concentrator, shared her experiences with war in Kabul, Afghanistan and her move to the United States.
“War has a way of teaching you things so early, like how to run, how to hide, how to carry silence,” Hashimi said. “I carry stories — the stories of girls I left behind, girls who never got to walk into a classroom, women whose dreams were locked behind walls.”
Hashimi came to Brown on a scholarship in 2021, when the Taliban retook power in Kabul. In her speech, she said arriving at an Ivy League felt like waking up from a dream, “in a classroom where the light stayed on, where questions were welcomed, not punished.”
In the summer after Hashimi’s sophomore year, she lost her father back in Kabul. Hashimi reflected on how she could not say her last goodbye or “hold his hand.” She credited the Brown community for supporting her through her grief and reminding her that she “didn't have to do it all alone.”
“Some people think that no one cares,” Hashimi said in an interview with The Herald. “Brown cares: If you share your pain, if you reach out to the right people, Brown would definitely help,” whether it’s “academically or emotionally or spiritually.”
In closing her speech, Hashimi reminded graduates that they “carry more than a diploma.”
“Here today, I carry my father’s voice reminding me that education is the only light no one can take away from me,” she said.
Noel, a neuroscience and literary arts concentrator, recalled how her four-year plan had “changed at least 15 times” since she first came to Brown.
“Those detours and missteps were necessary parts of the journey, sure, but what remains most important is the people it allowed us to become, the people who — despite the challenges — persevered,” Noel said.
Noel said she felt “honored” to speak at the ceremony, in an interview with The Herald.
After the speeches, the University recognized each graduate as they crossed the stage. The graduates this fall come from concentrations “in over forty different fields from every division of the University,” Pollock wrote.
The Chattertocks, an a capella group, delivered a rendition of the National Anthem during the beginning of the ceremony. Imam Amir Toft, associate chaplain of the University for the Muslim community, delivered the invocation, followed by a performance from Brown Lion Dance.
The ceremony “was really cute,” said Athina Chen ’25.5, an applied math-economics concentrator who had graduated early. Because all of the graduates were 0.5ers with unique pathways, that “bonded all of us in a way that a regular graduation ceremony wouldn’t.”
“I was blown away at the quality of speakers at the ceremony,” said Dane Elliott ’25.5, a statistics and East Asian studies concentrator who had transferred from the University of California, Los Angeles in the spring of 2023. He said Hashimi, in particular, “inspired me … to do better and just be the best version of myself as I leave Brown.”
“Often it’s when we take detours that we evolve the most as people,” President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 said during her closing speech. “25.5 is a great number; it suits you, we don’t all need to be integers.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Salomon DECI. The Herald regrets the error.
Ivy Huang is a university news and science & research editor from New York City Concentrating in English, she has a passion for literature and American history. Outside of writing, she enjoys playing basketball, watching documentaries, and beating her high score on Subway Surfers.
