Eric Church delivered a powerful keynote speech to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill class of 2026.
Church spoke at the UNC-Chapel Hill commencement ceremony on Saturday (May 9) at Kenan Memorial Stadium. The North Carolina-born country superstar shared profound advice for the graduating class. Radio personality and podcast host Anne Hudson shared a clip from the speech, which “didn’t disappoint”: “The world has more than enough people standing at the edge of their own potential waiting for a permission slip that was never gonna arrive. Want the thing. Say it out loud. Build toward it with everything you have.”
“And if you get lost, and at some point you will, you have a place where you belong,” he said as he addressed the class of 2026. “Come back, walk through the Quad on a fall day or sit on Franklin Street on a game day, and remember: These are my people because you are a Tar Heel.”
Church concluded his speech with a rendition of “Carolina,” the title track of his 12-track sophomore studio record that arrived in 2009. That project also included “Smoke a Little Smoke,” “Hell on the Heart” and more. Watch a clip shared by UNC-Chapel Hill on Instagram here: