During U-M’s Spring Commencement on May 3, Lucas Solomon, one of three student speakers, fired up the crowd at Michigan Stadium with inspiring memories, including seeing the U-M football team defeat rival Ohio State four years in a row.
In his speech, which focused on the importance of dreams, Solomon said: “I dreamed of seeing my team beat the Buckeyes not once, not twice, not three times — but four!”
As Solomon pumped his fist in the air, the crowd of nearly 70,000 students, faculty, and supporters went wild.
After the ceremony, Solomon’s sister sent a clip of that jubilant moment to Barstool Sports, who then posted it to their “X” account. Within hours, the video was garnering thousands of likes — and plenty of salty comments from both sides of the rivalry.
By the end of the weekend, the clip had also been shared on Barstool Sports’ TikTok account, where it had garnered more than 300,000 likes by mid-day Monday. ESPN got in on the act too, posting a similar clip to their TikTok account, where it has racked up nearly 300,000 likes.
“When Barstool posted it, I thought, this is going to blow up. And it did,” Solomon said.
“And you know what’s funny about all of it? I’m just a kid from Bloomfield Hills who wasn’t looking for attention or fame. But I have loved reading the comments — both for and against what I said. They’ve made me laugh.”
Dare to dream
Solomon decided to try out to be a student speaker at commencement when he got an email about two months ago asking students to share their “Michigan story.”
“I thought I might get chosen to talk within LSA about one of my majors — I never dreamed it was to speak in front of the whole class,” he said.
But Solomon said he’s always enjoyed public speaking and has been successful at it.
“I was my high school’s student body president and once had to speak in front of about 3,000 people,” he said.
On a plane coming back from Spring Break in March, inspiration struck for Solomon’s “Michigan story.”
He recalled the moment he’d decided he wanted to attend U-M. It was while watching the football team beat Notre Dame on Sept. 10, 2011, Solomon’s 9th birthday and the Wolverines’ first night game at the Big House.
That evening, Solomon became a die-hard U-M fan and began dreaming about being a student at the university one day. He crafted his remarks around the idea that dreaming is an essential part of creating a successful path forward.
“I wrote my original speech in about five minutes,” he said. “I wanted it to feel authentic and accurately recount what my experience looked like from freshman year to senior year. I also wanted to speak to the quality of the experience that I had at Michigan.”
Shortly after arriving back on campus, Solomon submitted the speech, as well as a voice recording of him delivering the remarks.
By the end of March, he’d been notified that he’d been selected as one of three student speakers for Spring Commencement.
Getting ready for the big day
Next, Solomon was assigned a speech writer who worked with him to evolve his script.
“That helped tremendously because it pushed me to turn what I had originally written into something more special,” he said.
The week prior to commencement, Solomon also learned he’d be introducing keynote speaker and Hall of Fame baseball player, Derek Jeter.
“When I saw that, I just burst out of my chair — how cool is that?!’” he said.
“But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. My remarks were sports-related, and the ceremony was in Michigan Stadium with Jeter as keynote speaker.”
To prepare, Solomon practiced (and practiced) his speech.
“Throughout the process of preparing, I was never alone. I’m part of a fraternity, and those friends really helped build me up,” he said.
“They were like, ‘hey, Lucas, let me know if you want to practice your speech’ or, ‘hey Lucas, I’m so excited to hear your speech on Saturday.’”
Their enthusiasm made Solomon realize the speech was not really about him. His time on stage would be about capturing the collective student experience and celebrating it.
Firing up the crowd
When Solomon stepped up to the podium on Saturday morning, 40 of his fraternity brothers jumped out of their chairs and began yelling.
“I could see my guys, stage left, in the back, and then I saw my family. They were all cheering. That was when I realized I could become a vehicle for bringing pride and enjoyment to all these people,” he said.
“When I got to the part in my story about my first football game and started to say, ‘Robinson drops back, finds his receiver and lets it fly…’ I look out at the audience, and I could see people were really engaged.”
“Then I say, ‘time seems to freeze, cameras flash, 110,000 fans hold their breath and then…caught! The stadium erupts!’
“I never anticipated that the stadium actually would erupt in that moment. But it did.”
By the time Solomon got to the part of the speech that celebrated U-M football’s four victories over Ohio State, he said he was fueled by adrenaline and giving the speech — and the crowd — everything he had.
“The crowd got what I was saying. They related. They understood. Even the admin behind me were cackling,” he said.
Preparation meets opportunity
After Solomon finished his remarks, introduced Jeter, and turned away from the podium, Jeter stopped to congratulate Solomon and tell him no one would have ever guessed he was nervous before that speech.
Solomon answered, “I was never nervous.”
The evening prior, Solomon had met Jeter for the first time at an honorary dinner, and Jeter told him preparation was the secret to beating nerves.
“He said, ‘the more prepared I felt, the more confident I was when I stepped onto the field,’” Solomon said.
“He also shared that what fueled his preparation was a love for the game. You have to love what you are doing.”
On Saturday, Solomon’s preparation and his love for U-M all came together in a celebratory moment liked by the 70,000 at the stadium, then 600,000 more online (and counting).
