In a speech peppered with football analogies, former University of Michigan and NFL quarterback Brian Griese (BA ’97) told graduating students from the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) and the Program in the Environment (PitE) that “sustainability is a team sport” and they’re all part of the same climate team fighting for a better future.

Griese, who was among the first students to major in environmental policy at U-M, referenced the two-minute drill, which he described as “probably the highest pressure situation in football,” where the team is losing and there is little time left in the game. 

Comparing the two-minute drill to climate change, “where we’re in a tough spot and time is not on our side,” Griese said that’s when the principles of execution, preparation and trust are needed the most for the win.

“For us today, going forward with the [climate] fight that we have ahead of us, it is about preparation, it is about intent and it’s about getting better,” Griese said. “And if you do [your work] with purpose, I believe we will be able to execute, and we’ll be able to outexecute our competitors or the naysayers. And if we can do that collectively with respect to the climate crisis, we can change how future generations interact with this planet.”

Griese delivered his remarks at the SEAS and PitE commencement ceremony on April 30 at the Crisler Center. A former NFL coach and ESPN analyst, he also is the co-founder of Judi’s House/JAG Institute, which focuses on improving the accessibility and quality of care given to grieving children and families. 

More than 378 SEAS master’s and PitE undergraduate students and 10 PhD students are part of the graduating Class of 2026.

Also during the ceremony, attendees heard from two graduates, Kaylynn Budreau and Huong Giang Duong, who were chosen as the undergraduate and graduate student speakers by their peers. 

Budreau, a PitE graduate who majored in environment with a specialization in business and sustainability, spoke about “falling forward,” a principle she said she carried with her throughout her time at U-M. Falling forward, said Budreau, is the acknowledgement that humans aren’t perfect and will make mistakes, and that failure leads to deeper learning and lasting growth. 

“In our careers, and in our personal lives, when we hit a wall, we have to remember that we aren’t falling back, we’re falling forward,” Budreau noted. “We’re using those setbacks to pivot, to learn, and to find better ways to move forward and create change.”

SEAS graduate Huong Giang Duong, who specialized in Geospatial Data Sciences, spoke lovingly of her home country of Vietnam and spending her summers with her grandparents in their remote mountain village, where she began to see changes to the rural landscape year after year.

“Even as a kid, I could sense the dilemma: how do communities pursue economic growth without losing what makes life livable—clean water, healthy soil, biodiversity and the cultural ties that are woven into a place? Add climate change to that equation, and the choices become even harder, especially for remote areas and developing regions moving quickly toward modernization.”

She challenged her fellow graduates “to make a quiet commitment to be the kind of professionals who refuse false trade-offs; who don’t accept that some communities must be sacrificed for others to thrive; and who use the tools we’ve learned here: data, science, policy, design, and storytelling to expand what is possible.”

Check out the SEAS and PitE commencement photos.

Jump to SEAS and PitE graduating student profiles.