--- title: Graduation 2017: Octavia Spencer Speech at Kent State description: Actress Octavia Spencer encouraged graduates to be optimistic during her commencement address at Ohio's Kent State University canonical: https://time.com/4778418/octavia-spencer-kent-state-university-graduation-commencement/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-14T15:12:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:54:48.740Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Read Octavia Spencer's Commencement Speech at Kent State og:description: "Be loud with your voices" og:url: https://time.com/4778418/octavia-spencer-kent-state-university-graduation-commencement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9aa2e3a4d6af81d/6988b8c28fd2ee4a1f355aa8/octavia-spencer-trump-supporters-hidden-figures.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Octavia Spencer's Commencement Speech at Kent State twitter:description: "Be loud with your voices" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9aa2e3a4d6af81d/6988b8c28fd2ee4a1f355aa8/octavia-spencer-trump-supporters-hidden-figures.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Octavia Spencer's Advice to Graduates: 'The Best Years Are Very Much Ahead of You' > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=54cebd6a-5487-4541-9be0-80bfcd19c962&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 14, 2017 3:12 PM UTC  Octavia Spencer arrives at the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Expo Hall on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Octavia Spencer arrives at the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Expo Hall on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Steve Granitz—WireImage by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 14, 2017 3:12 PM UTC _Actress Octavia Spencer delivered the commencement address at Ohio’s Kent State University on Saturday._ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4778418/octavia-spencer-kent-state-university-graduation-commencement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4778418/octavia-spencer-kent-state-university-graduation-commencement/"},"headline":"Octavia Spencer's Advice to Graduates: 'The Best Years Are Very Much Ahead of You'","datePublished":"2017-05-14T15:12:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:54:48.740Z","description":"\"Be loud with your voices\"","url":"https://time.com/4778418/octavia-spencer-kent-state-university-graduation-commencement/","keywords":["Education","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9aa2e3a4d6af81d/6988b8c28fd2ee4a1f355aa8/octavia-spencer-trump-supporters-hidden-figures.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9aa2e3a4d6af81d/6988b8c28fd2ee4a1f355aa8/octavia-spencer-trump-supporters-hidden-figures.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Arrivals","caption":"23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Arrivals","creditText":"Steve Granitz—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4778418/octavia-spencer-kent-state-university-graduation-commencement/","name":"Octavia Spencer's Advice to Graduates: 'The Best Years Are Very Much Ahead of You'"}}]}] ```