Pilar Maria Weiss ’94 returned to UWC‑USA not only as this year’s commencement speaker, but also as the recipient of the Giulio Regeni Alumni Impact Award—an honor recognizing alumni who embody the UWC mission through their life’s work.
Over the past three decades, Weiss has built a career at the intersection of social justice, labor organizing, and immigrant rights. Her work has supported grassroots movements across the United States, including efforts to end immigration detention and mass incarceration. Across roles in the labor movement, politics, and advocacy, she has remained grounded in a commitment she traces back to her time in Montezuma: “to try to build a different kind of world.”
Speaking to the Class of 2026, Weiss acknowledged both the urgency of the current moment and its echoes of the past. Reflecting on her own graduation in 1994—amid global conflict and uncertainty—she recognized a familiar tension between hope and doubt. “Will this overwhelming reality squash what you’ve spent these last two years dreaming?” she asked, before offering reassurance drawn from experience.
Her message was clear: the path forward is rarely linear, but the values forged at UWC-USA endure. Weiss shared candidly about her own winding journey—from early ambitions in medicine to years of exploration across fields and countries—before finding her place in movement-building work. “I lost and found my way so many times,” she said, “and the only thing that stayed true was my commitment to that vision.”
She encouraged graduates to carry forward the relationships, questions, and sense of possibility shaped during their time at UWC-USA. In a world facing complex challenges, Weiss emphasized that it is precisely these shared values—of justice, solidarity, and courage—that will sustain them.