Read the full text of Kermit the Frog’s May 22, 2025, University of Maryland commencement address (voiced by muppet performer Matt Vogel).

Muppets creator Jim Henson graduated from Maryland in 1960. A home economics major, he fashioned the original frog puppet from one of his mother’s coats and a ping-pong ball cut in half, according to a statement from the university. Henson died in 1990.

Kermit the Frog delivered the commencement speech at the University of Maryland. The iconic green frog, and the rest of the Muppets, were created by Jim Henson, who graduated from UMD in 1960.