The story of the graduating class of 2026 mirrors that of the institution that shaped them. For more than a century, LAU has endured Lebanon’s hardest chapters, emerging from each one stronger than before. A century-long proof of the same principle this class now embodies: that adversity, met with resolve and collective effort, does not leave you where it found you. It makes you antifragile.

It was at the LAU Byblos campus on June 9, 2026, that this perseverance reached a high point, as 1,047 graduates entered a new chapter of their lives at the university’s 101st commencement exercises, where faculty, family, and mentors, who had accompanied them through every challenge, celebrated their persistence. Bound by a timeless commitment to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield, they had, in the truest sense, already begun to live it.

LAU President Chaouki T. Abdallah opened his address to the graduating class by acknowledging that in Lebanon, in these years, keeping a child safe and in university was nothing less than an “act of extraordinary love” and “quiet defiance.”

Speaking about the graduates’ future in a country that had been “failed,” he drew on the biblical story of Nehemiah, who returned to a city in ruins and rebuilt its broken walls not through decree, but through shared work—prioritizing relationships over stones and rallying every person to help reconstruct the whole. “Take up your section of the wall and build,” he told them, for that wall was Lebanon itself.

LAU, continued President Abdallah, had been doing exactly that for a century. In an age where artificial intelligence can deliver information instantly, what the university had always offered was something no algorithm could replicate, “the transformation of people.” It built hospitals that treated the wounded in peace and in war, shaped public policy, and sustained the talent pipeline that kept a hopeful version of Lebanon alive when much else was failing.

“Do not let Lebanon go,” he told the graduates. “Go. Learn. Build. Grow,” he said, “but do not let Lebanon leave you. Carry it. Return to it—in person, or through what you send back: talent, investment, ideas, and the relentless demand for something better.”

Speaking on behalf of her fellow graduates, valedictorian Marilyn Smayra, an Industrial Engineering graduate with High Distinction, reflected on a path defined as much by doubt and hardship as by growth and discovery.

“As a woman in engineering, there were moments when I questioned whether I belonged in certain rooms, certain conversations, or certain opportunities,” she said. “But looking around today, I realize that every graduate had their own version of that story: their own doubts, their own door they almost didn’t walk through.”

The experiences that shaped this class, she noted, extended far beyond the classroom. “We are also a generation shaped by moments no transcript can record,” she said. “We studied through hardship and war. At times, schoolwork gave us something to hold onto; at other times, it felt like one more weight to carry. But every single one of us chose to stand back up.”

Thanking faculty, staff, and families for their enduring support, Smayra spoke of what LAU had ultimately given them. “LAU did not just give us a place to study,” she said. “It gave us a place to become.”

She closed by urging her fellow graduates to carry that forward with courage and purpose. “Let us dare to choose paths that challenge us, and to become the people others can count on, so that we can build lives that remain true to who we are.”

In that spirit of excellence and service, the ceremony honored outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements. Mechatronics Engineering graduate Wajih Georges Dani El Tayar received the Riyad Nassar Leadership Award, granted each year to a graduating student who combines solid academic standing with exemplary leadership. Political Science and International Affairs graduate Sophia Mohamad Azmi Haddad received the Rhoda Orme Award, presented to a female graduating student who demonstrates dedication and service to others.

For showing courage, determination, and hope in the face of obstacles while serving as a role model to those around her, Pharmacy graduate Farah Waheed El Rayess was presented with the Sara Khatib Inspiration Award, given in memory of a late pharmacy student of the same name.

Pharmacy graduate Alissa Andon Tchaparian, Business graduate Evan Jean Kamel, Nursing graduate Ghida Bilal Toutounji, Civil Engineering graduate Jad Weam El Jurdi, and Biology graduate Joe Tani Antoun each received the President’s Award, conferred upon one High Distinction graduate per school who demonstrates strong leadership through extracurricular activities on and off campus.

For his demonstrated excellence in engineering, Mechanical Engineering graduate Christophe Lebnen Abboud was awarded the Charbel Khairallah Endowed Award of Excellence in Engineering, presented annually in memory of the late engineering student Charbel Khairallah. Torch Awards, recognizing graduating students who embody leadership, volunteer service, commitment, and ethical conduct, went to Business graduate Angelina Elias Hanna, Architecture graduate Caline Pierre Atallah, Pharmacy graduate Chloe Fady Abi Fadel, Nursing graduate Maya Hussein Serhan, Computer Engineering graduate Nour Tanios Mikhael, and Biology graduate Yara Ibrahim Daccache.