Jon Batiste charms and encourages at Loyola University commencement

Go ahead and add outstanding inspirational speaker to Jon Batiste’s list of talents. Fresh from a triumphant performance at the recent New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the renowned musician, composer and bandleader addressed 1,050 Loyola graduating students at the UNO Lakefront Arena on Saturday morning.

The Kenner native called on them to fix the divided world, or “lose everything that we’ve built.”

Batiste wore dark sunglasses that matched nicely with the black academic gown he wore as he accepted his honorary doctorate. The shimmering, pale pink hood that was slipped across his shoulders symbolized his area of accomplishment: music.

“Where y’at Wolf Pack,” were the first words he spoke to the soon-to-be-graduates, referring to the university’s wolf motif that dates all the way back to the 15th-century Spanish priest and educator Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the school’s namesake. The students howled their approval.

Batiste’s musical career began when, as an eight-year-old, he played drums in his family band. He later attended St. Augustine High School and NOCCA in New Orleans before earning degrees at the renowned Juilliard School in New York.

“Understand the context of who you are and where you came from and how that relates to what you do. You come from a long line of people — many are here today — who love you and have been praying for you, and spent money on you,” Batiste said, earning a twitter of laughter from the families that filled the auditorium to the back row.

Batiste explained to the graduating class that he’d begun studying piano at the relatively advanced age of eleven, and he had spent years losing keyboard competitions to younger players. But he persevered.

“The first step in being great is know your stuff,” Batiste told his attentive audience. “And I mean know it … Know your stuff early, know your stuff late, know it backwards and forwards.”

During the seven years he led the popular Late Show with Stephen Colbert band, Batiste became a household name. He cemented his fame further when he was nominated for 11 Grammy awards in 2022, winning five, including Album of the Year.

Batiste was the first Black musician to win the award since 2008 when the top album Grammy went to Herbie Hancock, who, Provost Tanuja Singh pointed out, had also received an honorary doctorate from Loyola university.

As Batiste spoke, the customary mortarboard caps on the students’ heads were mostly still, tassels barely swaying. Some of the square black tops had been decorated with flowers, glitter and lettering that could be seen from the raised seats. Jana Woo’s cap read: “Mama, I did it.”

It hadn’t been easy for the 25-year-old Orlando, Florida transplant, who works as an EMT vehicle dispatcher. “I feel very good,” she said. “I’m happy to have my degree after all these years.”

The complications of the COVID pandemic and the demands of parenting a two-year-old daughter had stretched out her studies in the applied sciences to seven years instead of four. But, as her mortarboard announced, she “did it.”

“No matter what,” she said, “you can still finish."

Woo was certainly pleased with the commencement speaker. Batiste, she said, “is one of my favorite people.”

“He’s always been a role model coming out of New Orleans,” she said.

Batiste concluded his remarks by taking a seat at the piano at center stage, where he played an immeasurably charming rendition of “If you’re happy and you know it,” which allowed the students to clap cathartically between verses. He followed with a soulful snippet of his song, “Don’t Stop Dreamin’.”

In the eyes of the class of 2023, Batiste’s celebrity was doubtlessly unmatchable. But he was not the only person on the podium to earn an honorary degree Saturday.

Physicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell was honored by Loyola University, not just because she discovered the spinning, electromagnetic beam-emitting stars called pulsars in 1967, but because she helped pioneer the recognition of women in the sciences in her native Northern Ireland and Britain.

“Your work to persuade the sciences that genius is evenly dispersed among women and men — what a thought — and students of every economic and racial background embodies Loyola’s values,” Provost Singh said.

Much closer to home, businessman John Georges was awarded an honorary doctorate in business. Georges and his wife, Dathel Georges, co-own Georges Media, which produces NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune, The Advocate, The Acadiana Advocate, The Shreveport-Bossier Advocate and Gambit Weekly. 

Singh praised Georges' entry into the New Orleans media market, which began with the purchase of The Advocate in Baton Rouge and the creation of The New Orleans Advocate newspaper here in 2013, followed by the purchase of NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune in 2019.

“As a business leader, you have shown us how to be a thoughtful and creative problem solver," she said. "You have shown us how to reach outside our existing boundaries to consider what’s possible and execute a vision surpassing imagination.”

Singh also noted Georges’ prior accomplishments, including his time as commissioner of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, a member of the Louisiana Board of Regents, and others.

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Photos: Loyola grads are happy and they know it during commencement