The University of Maryland announced its 2025 commencement speaker, and the choice is guaranteed to delight students and parents alike: it’s Kermit the Frog!
In a video introduction on YouTube, the multi-hyphenate speaker is described as an “environmental advocate, best-selling author, Peabody Award winner, champion of creativity, kindness, and believing in the impossible, international superstar, amphibitarian, and friend to all creatures.”
Someone had to pull some strings to arrange it, but it’s entirely fitting for University of Maryland to pull this off, as puppeteer Jim Henson attended the school. There is even a memorial statue of Henson with Kermit at the College Park campus, where he created the show “Sam and Friends.” That show ran on local stations from 1955 through 1961.
In Kermit’s commencement speaker bio on the school’s site, he describes his life’s dream: “I want to sing and dance and make people happy. It’s the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with.”
Whether he is in a trench coat as an intrepid Sesame Street News reporter interviewing famous composer, Don Music; playing the banjo on a lily pad in a bog and singing the song that has brought tears to millions of eyes, “Rainbow Connection”; finally marrying the love of his life, Miss Piggy; or gracing the commencement stage at the University of Maryland with his presence and wisdom, Kermit the Frog is most certainly fulfilling his dream of making people happy.
