Kylie Kelce announced as one of Cabrini University’s final commencement speakers

The wife of legendary Eagles center Jason Kelce graduated in 2017 from Cabrini University, where she was "a standout field hockey athlete," said a statement from the university.

Kylie Kelce (left) poses next to husband Jason Kelce before the Eagles' Super Bowl championship ring ceremony in June 2018. Kylie Kelce will deliver Cabrini University's final commencement address on May 19, 2024.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer

by Beatrice Forman

Updated March 13, 2024, 11:19 a.m. ET

Published March 13, 2024, 10:23 a.m. ET

Cabrini University has picked Kylie McDevitt Kelce to be one of the school’s final commencement speakers. She will address undergraduate students at Cabrini’s last commencement ceremony on May 19.

Kelce graduated in 2017 from Cabrini, where she studied communication and was “a standout field hockey athlete,” according to the university. As a student, Kelce was named rookie of the year for the Colonial States Athletic Association, made the conference’s First Team twice, and helped Cabrini’s field hockey team win back-to-back CSAC titles.

“One of the best decisions I’ve made was to become a part of the Cabrini field hockey family. The experience gave me memories and friendships that will last a lifetime,” Kelce said in a statement.

Kelce was a field hockey coach at Lower Merion High School — her alma mater — when she married beloved Eagles center Jason Kelce in 2018. Their love story has been told the world over, thanks to Jason’s documentary, podcast, and retirement speech. The couple met on Tinder in 2014 and had their first date at Old City bar Buffalo Billiards, where Jason allegedly fell asleep and had to be carried home by his teammates. They now have three daughters together.

Cabrini said Kelce is “dedicated to making a difference by giving back to the community,” citing her work with the Eagles Autism Foundation. The couple’s annual fundraiser at the popular Sea Isle bar Ocean Drive has raised more than $380,000 for autism research, while Kylie Kelce herself raised $100,000 in November by auctioning off a signed version of Princess Diana’s famous varsity Eagles jacket.

More recently, Kelce partnered with the beauty company Dove to grow its Body Confident Sport program, a set of digital tools designed in partnership with Nike to help coaches foster body positivity in young female athletes.

Kelce will be joined as a commencement speaker by author Rachel Slaughter, a former Inquirer reporter who graduated from Cabrini in 1989 with a degree in English. Slaughter is the author of the 2021 textbook Turning the Page: The Ultimate Guide for Teachers to Multicultural Literature, and the founder of Literacy University (formerly the Salt and Light Learning Institute), which provides “tutoring and academic resources to at-risk families,” according to the statement from Cabrini.

The Delaware County university announced in 2023 that it would close in June 2024 after more than 66 years in business as a Catholic institution. After mounting financial problems and declining enrollment forced the school to lay off faculty and eliminate several majors, nearby Villanova University purchased Cabrini’s campus. Villanova has yet to make clear its plans for the campus.

The class of 2024 at Cabrini has 389 students. The school’s 316 remaining underclassmen have been making plans to transfer, with the majority signaling interest in one of Cabrini’s four partnership schools — Ursinus College, Gwynedd Mercy University, Holy Family University, and Eastern University — or St. Joesph’s University.