Sometimes, life asks things of people before they are ready. And while they often can’t control why or how something happens, George Washington University graduate student Ethan Fitzgerald said, they can at least control how they react.
“Some of the most important parts of who we become are shaped by those moments and how we respond to them,” said Fitzgerald, a master’s degree candidate in the Graduate School of Political Management, “whether we step forward, whether we do the right thing and whether we stay grounded in our values.”
Stepping up to meet the moment will be a prevailing theme of the charge the San Diego native will give his fellow GW Class of 2026 graduates when he addresses them on the National Mall Sunday, May 17. On Friday, he was selected as the 2026 Student Commencement speaker, emerging from a process that involves school-level selections, community voting and final auditions.
Humbled and grateful for the opportunity, Fitzgerald hopes graduates—and their families, for that matter—leave with a stronger sense of what it means to embrace a challenge. Not just for themselves but for the betterment of other people and society—signature reasons why students attend a school like GW, with its proximity to progress and power in the heart of the nation’s capital.
“Our education has taught us not only how to put our best foot forward but also the importance of empathy and creating space for others to belong,” said Fitzgerald, who also earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science and organizational sciences last May. “I hope people leave thinking about how to carry what we’ve learned at GW into the world, not just the education but the responsibility that comes with having a voice and using it to advocate for others and to help build something better.”
Fitzgerald lived by his own words during his time at GW, where in the 2024-25 academic year he served as the Student Government Association’s president. During his time as the leader of GW’s student body, he built a platform rooted in community, cohesiveness, accessibility and visibility—seeking to make SGA feel more “like a student union” than distant entity.
As SGA president, he helped launch new initiatives such as Denim Day supporting survivors of sexual assault and violence, Day for the Nation celebrating the many countries from which GW students come, Raise High Wednesdays in Kogan Plaza, monthly organization presidents meetings and biweekly update videos to make the SGA more transparent and accessible.
“A lot of leadership is not just about what you accomplish on paper,” Fitzgerald said. “Obviously, that’s very important, but I really wanted to focus on how we make people feel, whether they felt seen, whether they felt included and whether it was a place they wanted to be involved in. That mattered deeply to me.”
Outside of SGA, Fitzgerald also served in numerous leadership positions at GW, including director of operations for GW Residence Hall Association, Alpha Epsilon Pi founding member and vice president and Model United Nations member, among other involvements.
Last October, Fitzgerald launched Students for Mental Health Action (SMHA), a nonpartisan mental health advocacy organization. Fitzgerald trained and organized a team of volunteers to engage directly with Congress on bipartisan legislation. This spring with SMHA, he led two expeditions of 60 and 70 students to knock on legislative office doors across Capitol Hill urging the importance of mental health reform. To date, SMHA has met with more than 80 congressional offices as students share their stories to activate direct action.
Providing his peers with a voice has been his constant source of motivation during all of his service both at and outside of GW.
Addressing fellow graduates on the National Mall will be a deeply personal moment for Fitzgerald and his mother, the woman he said was responsible for his commitment to being deeply empathetic and inclusive. Fitzgerald’s father died of cancer when he was just 5 years old, and he said much of his life is a reflection of his mother's love, strength and sacrifice.
“That has really shaped what I want for myself and what I want to do in the future, and I think seeing her in the crowd is going to be really emotional in a lot of ways,” Fitzgerald said. “The moment is hers, too, as I wouldn’t be here without her. She’s the first person who taught me what it means to keep going, to step up and to meet the moment, even when life doesn’t make that easy.”
And on May 17, he will lean into the mic at Commencement to spread that message to the rest of GW’s Class of 2026 as they enter a world in need of people willing to step forward in a time of challenge.
