Soon to close, Cabrini University holds final commencement

Kylie McDevitt Kelce’s commencement speech at Cabrini University on Sunday was filled with fond memories of her undergraduate days there and a few jokes, like noting her husband, former Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce, who has made some pretty spectacular speeches — one in a Mummers costume after the team won the Super Bowl — didn’t help her with it.

“So you can go ahead and lower those expectations,” said the 2017 alumna and Narberth native who earned her bachelor’s in communications at Cabrini.

But then she got near the end of her remarks, just as her beloved university is nearing its end.

» READ MORE: At Cabrini University, there will be no next year: A chronicling of its final semester

There would be no more commencements, no more admissions tours, no more fall semesters when everything is new and the journey for another crop of students is just beginning. This was Cabrini’s final commencement; the 67-year old Catholic university, facing financial challenges and enrollment loss, will close for good June 30. Villanova University is buying the campus.

“I’m going to try not to cry,” Kelce, 32, told the more than 1,500 graduates, staff and family members filling the university’s Dixon Center.

Then she started in: “Here, nestled in the woods of Radnor, Pennsylvania, is this hidden gem.”

She couldn’t hold back the tears: “It’s not going to work.”

But she pushed on, just like the faculty, students, and staff who sought to make the most of their final year at the university, knowing there would not be a next year.

» READ MORE: With Cabrini University closing, where will all their professors go?

“We were greeted with warmth, kindness and a new place to call home,” Kelce recalled of her undergraduate days. “We were offered a diverse curriculum by passionate professors. … We were not lost in lecture halls or just a number in the class head count.

“In the next few months as the sign at the front entrance no longer reads Cabrini, … know that your home still exists. It’s around you, living inside of everyone who came along and fell in love with this place. Because although it is picturesque, it is not the campus that makes it so hard to leave.”

She paused again. “I’m almost there,” she said determined to finish.

“As our last graduating class, know that your network of alumni still exists and support from the Cabrini community will be surrounding you wherever life takes you.”

It was a fitting tribute for Cabrini’s final chapter.

“She did a really good job putting everything into perspective,” said Griffin Rogers, 21, of Glassboro, N.J., who got his business management degree.

He is one of 388 undergraduate and graduate students who were the last to receive their Cabrini degrees on Sunday at two separate ceremonies.

“It’s kind of surreal thinking we are going to be the last graduating class,” he said. “It’s amazing they were able to get this all together for us.”

» READ MORE: As Mother Cabrini movie debuts in theaters, the only university her order founded prepares to close

Jennifer Allison, 21, who got her degree in early childhood and special education, agreed.

“They took the most of a really unfortunate situation and did what they could for us to make it a great day,” Allison, of Hatboro, said as families and graduates snapped post-ceremony pictures under sunny skies.

The parents of Abby Flanagan, of Williamstown, Cabrini’s student government president, said they were sad to see the school close, given the wonderful experience their daughter had.

“She dedicated her whole four years to the school and to the clubs,” said her mother, Moira Flanagan. “She wanted kids to love it as much as she did.”

Flanagan pointed to her younger daughter, Colette, 16, sitting beside her and said she probably would have attended Cabrini, too.

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Kelce’s husband watched his wife speak from a balcony overlooking the ceremony. He listened to her talk about her time on the field hockey team — she was a starter all four years and helped the team win its conference title two consecutive years. She wrote for the student newspaper, the Loquitur, and had a radio show. She interned in the athletic department and was a residence hall assistant.

“She spent a lot of time here,” Kelce said of his wife. “She created a lot of friendships here, a lot of relationships with faculty. We always made a point to come back.”

Now there would be no more coming back.

Kelce said his own tearful goodbye to the Eagles in March after 13 seasons.

» READ MORE: Jason Kelce tearfully announces NFL retirement after 13 seasons with the Eagles

That’s different, he said.

“I can still go back to the Philadelphia Eagles any time I want to go down to South Philly,” he said. “The fact that this is ending is a little bit more final.”

He said his wife — who is an advocate for the Eagles Autism Foundation and mother to their three children — worked hard to craft just the right message for graduates.

“A lot of nights have been spent writing and trying to figure out the exact words,” he said.

For professors who spent decades at Cabrini, the moment was especially bittersweet.

“It was a blessing to be a part of it,” education professor Susan Pierson said of her time at Cabrini. “It was probably the biggest blessing of my whole life.”

Jerry Zurek, an emeritus journalism professor who taught at Cabrini for 53 years, said he was proud of what the university achieved.

“Many first-generation students got their start here,” he said. “I think Mother Cabrini would be proud of what has been accomplished here, both by the school and the thousands of graduates.”

Later in the afternoon, the university held a culminating legacy event that drew a couple thousand alumni, students, faculty and staff and began with alumni carrying in a flag for each graduating class. Cabrini officials ceremoniously handed over the campus and legacy to the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova’s president. Villanova will officially take possession of the campus June 30.

“The Cabrini spirit will live on and take a new shape at Villanova University,” he vowed. “Every experience, memory and opportunity Cabrini [gave] its students these past 67 years lives through your alumni and now at Villanova, we have the honor to carry the spirit of a Cabrini education forward for a new generation of students.”