Emmy Award-Winning Actress Jane Seymour Tells 2025 Graduates to Embrace Change

HIGH POINT, N.C., May 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — High Point University celebrated the Class of 2025 and honored those undergraduate students who crossed the stage today during two Commencement ceremonies inside the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center. 

HPU President Nido Qubein welcomed graduates and their thousands of friends and family members to the arena for the first Commencement ceremony, which started at 9 a.m. and was followed by a second ceremony at 2:30 p.m. The need for two ceremonies to recognize 947 students who earned their bachelor’s degree this spring reflects HPU’s incredible growth over the past two decades. HPU will award nearly 1,700 undergraduate and graduate degrees in total throughout the 2024-2025 academic year.

“Graduates, we’re proud of your accomplishments and we salute you as extraordinary ambassadors for High Point University,” Qubein said.

Qubein also introduced Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress Jane Seymour, who delivered the Commencement address to undergraduate students. Before her speech, he presented Seymour, one of Hollywood’s most endearing actresses and the star of the TV show “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” with an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts.

“For those who don’t know me yet, I never did manage to go to college, so this is as close as I’m going to get to a doctorate,” Seymour told the crowd. “Although my catchphrase on ‘Dr. Quinn’ was ‘I’m not a woman. I’m a doctor.’ Well, now I’m a real one. Thank you, High Point University.”

Actress Jane Seymour Addresses Graduates

Qubein said Seymour flew in from Ireland, where she’s busy filming a movie, to speak at today’s Commencement ceremony.

Seymour told the new graduates that life is serendipitous and that they need to be resilient and willing to adapt to change to live an authentic life. To emphasize her point, she shared her early experiences of having flat feet and a speech impediment, which led to her taking ballet lessons and speech therapy lessons. Both changed her life.

Seymour said those setbacks as a child prepared her to be an accomplished ballerina and actress who has appeared in more than 100 films, TV shows and Broadway plays. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999.

“Your job is not to control the path. You walk it boldly and openly,” Seymour said. “Do not fear the unknown. Do not panic when life doesn’t follow the script. It won’t, and that’s a gift. You might find years from now that the best thing that ever happened to you looked like the worst thing at first. Rejection, heartbreak, a job that didn’t come — that’s just life reshaping your story. There’s power in staying open to people and to the next wave because life is like a wave. Right now, you’re riding high. This is your big moment. You should be proud of it.”

But when the wave hits the bottom, gather momentum to rise again and be open to something new, Seymour said. She told graduates that not every outcome will be favorable, but every one of them will provide a lesson. “Often, with humble reflection, the unfavorable becomes favorable. It transforms, and that’s the power of resilience.”  

“That’s the thing about life,” she said. “You can try to design the perfect plan, but life often laughs at our plans and good news turns out to be detours. Bad news turns into blessings. You lose something, but you gain something.”

In addition to her prolific acting career, Seymour started the Open Hearts Foundation, a nonprofit organization that was inspired by her mother, who was a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. She has also co-authored several children’s books and self-help books and created jewelry, scarves and clothes under her Jane Seymour Designs label.

“Don’t cling to the plan. Embrace the possibility,” Seymour said. “Don’t live for approval. Live for passion. Live to make this world a better place with your unique gifts and follow it wherever it leads. And if it doesn’t work out, you still lived authentically and that in the end is success. So, go forward now, boldly, fearlessly, curiously, generously, vulnerably and humbly. High Point University has prepared you for greatness, but life will prepare you for meaning.”  

Qubein and Seymour have each received the prestigious Horatio Alger Award, given to exceptional leaders who have triumphed over adversity and personify the American Dream. He was presented with the honor in 2006, and Seymour followed in 2022.

John Maxwell Awarded Honorary Doctorate

Before presenting Seymour with her honorary doctorate, Qubein gave an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to Dr. John C. Maxwell, the bestselling author and internationally renowned leadership expert. As the founder of The John Maxwell Company, The John Maxwell Team, EQUIP and The John Maxwell Foundation, Maxwell has trained more than 5 million leaders globally.

Maxwell also delivered the address at HPU’s Baccalaureate service for graduates and families on May 2 at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church in High Point. He serves as HPU’s Executive Coach in Residence and regularly visits campus to mentor students.

Senior Class of 2025 President Speaks

Senior Class of 2025 President Emma Higgins, an electrical engineering major from Yonkers, New York, shared her experience of feeling confused four years ago when she received greetings of “welcome home” when she initially arrived at HPU. During her time on campus, home gradually stopped being a physical place and instead became the other students, faculty and people who surrounded her, comforted her and encouraged her.  

“Now, as we stand here on the edge of the next great thing, I beg you to ask what brought us here today,” Higgins said. “Home became where your heart stretched, broke, grew and was pieced back together again by the love of the people around you. And they say home is where the heart is, and well, this university certainly gained ours.”

Higgins was one of nearly 1,000 undergraduate students who were honored today by HPU. On May 1, about 340 graduate students were recognized at the Graduate Commencement Ceremony, which included doctoral degrees in education, medical sciences and pharmacy. Separate ceremonies are held throughout the year for other programs such as physical therapy and physician assistant studies, as well as December Commencement.

This weekend’s ceremonies are another milestone for a banner year for HPU. In addition to celebrating its Centennial Anniversary in the 2024-2025 academic year, HPU also welcomed its largest total enrollment of 6,335 students when the year began. The university also welcomed its first cohorts of graduate students to the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law and the Workman School of Dental Medicine last fall.

HPU Commencement Traditions

As is tradition, President Qubein delivered the final senior sendoff titled “Onward with Faithful Courage” to the Class of 2025 and their parents on May 2 in the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center.

“This is not the end of your educational cycle,” he told families who packed the conference center. “This is the beginning of your educational journey. The pro understands that adversity is an opportunity, that faith is a blessing, that generosity is a habit and that distinction is your goal. Your parents gave you roots. HPU has given you wings. I can’t wait to see what you do with the rest of your life.”

In keeping with another tradition at HPU’s graduation ceremony, a bald eagle named Clark soared over the graduates at the end of the ceremony to symbolize the ideals of free enterprise, independence and the ability to pursue new opportunities in America. The eagle flew as the HPU Chamber Singers performed “America the Beautiful.”  

Every graduate also received a blanket after the ceremony to give to someone special in their lives who cared enough about them to sacrifice in support of that graduate’s higher education.

Members of HPU’s Class of 1975 were also in attendance as they celebrated the 50^th anniversary of their graduation from what was then known as High Point College.

Attachments

• HPU Commencement 1
• HPU Commencement 2

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