Syracuse, N.Y. -- David Muir praised more than 6,000 Syracuse University graduates today, congratulating them for their perseverance and achievements not just on campus, but during a historic moment when the coronavirus pandemic, political conflict and worldwide unrest remain concerns.
“You kept all the noise at bay, and you kept going,” the Syracuse native said. “This right here is proof that you already have it within you. You’ve already been tested. You already kept going. You broke through it all here today. You’ve earned your place in this graduating class.”
Muir, anchor and managing editor of “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir,” talked about his early days as a teenager, when he first began working for a Syracuse television station. He also joked with students and their parents, who often drop kids off in sunny August and pick them up in sunny May without ever getting a taste of a true Syracuse winter.
“They have no idea what happens in between,” he said. “I think it was snowing last week.”
Today SU conferred bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, juris doctor and master of laws degrees. The total number of graduates was 6,468, according to the school.
Muir has anchored “World News Tonight” since 2014 and has been the most-watched news anchor for more than five years, reporting from war zones and disasters including Afghanistan, Iraq, the Ukraine border, Tahrir Square, Mogadishu, Gaza, Guantanamo, Fukushima, Beirut and the Syrian border.
Muir is a former reporter at Syracuse’s WTVH (now part of CNY Central) and a graduate of Onondaga Central High School and Ithaca College.
“I’m really here today to celebrate all of you because of that perseverance I spoke of,” he said. “I know that you’ll be happy if you never Zoom again. You’ll be happy when the masks are finally behind us.”
But he said overcoming challenges is what makes society stronger.
“And anyone who has ever stepped on the Syracuse University campus knows that in this community. We get through these times together,” he said.