Commencement speaker Elder Ulysses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles incorporated the university’s sesquicentennial celebration theme of “Gifts of Light” into his message and implored graduates to take the light they’ve developed at BYU and share it with the world.

“The light you carry from the campus is meant to shine in places only you can reach,” Soares said. “It grows within a believing heart, increases as knowledge is joined with covenant faithfulness, and blesses others as it is shared with.”

BYU will graduate 7,174 students between Dec. 2025 and Aug. 2026. Among the graduates are 5,770 bachelor’s degree recipients, 1,151 master’s degree recipients and 244 doctoral degree recipients, according to the university. The students come from 50 states and 69 foreign countries; 51.4% are female and 48.6% are male.

A large portion of these graduates and their families were among the 15,055 in the Marriott Center for the 90-minute commencement, which consisted of musical numbers and talks from an apostle, BYU President Shane Reese, BYU Alumni Association President Derek B. Miller and graduating student Mirabella Archibald Keogh. Many will also have graduation ceremonies for their respective colleges at locations across campus Thursday and Friday.

Soares described this time as the “end of the beginning” before students begin their new life chapter. He said they will do so carrying a double heritage: “An education that included both worldly knowledge and revealed truth.” That heritage, he said, comes with a responsibility to increase in knowledge and share spiritual truths with the world.

“The world you now enter may not always understand that integration, and at times you may be required to stand alone,” Soares said. “But if you remain anchored in Jesus Christ and loyal to your covenants, you will become what prophets have foreseen — disciple leaders whose competence commands respect and whose character reflects the light of the Savior.”

University leadership believes graduates will leave BYU with enhanced spiritual knowledge to be shared with others — and have the data to back it.

At the conclusion of each graduating senior’s tenure at Brigham Young University, they take an exit survey and are asked whether their time at BYU has strengthened their faith in Jesus Christ and his living prophets and apostles.

Reese said that the percentage of graduates who answered yes to this question has increased each of the last four years. In 2023, 78% said their faith in Jesus Christ increased, and 71% said their faith in living prophets had increased. In 2024, those figures grew to 83% and 77%, respectively, and to 87% and 81% last year. This year, those numbers reached highs of 91% and 85%, according to Reese.

Reese said he sees this faith displayed not only in the numbers, but in how students carry themselves through their academic, social and service activities.

“As the president of this university, I’ve seen your light,” he said.

In order for graduates to maintain that light as they move forward, Reese told them to stay true to their covenants, center their lives around Jesus Christ, and to serve and love others daily.

“Prophets of God have repeatedly taught us on this campus that we gain an education so that we might serve others more effectively,” he said. “You’ve entered to learn, now is your time to use that precious knowledge for the benefit of others.”