Paralympic gold medalist McKenzie Coan, ’18, named Loyola’s 2025 Commencement speaker
Paralympian, author, and disability rights advocate McKenzie Coan, ’18, will deliver the address at Loyola University Maryland’s 172nd Commencement Exercises. The ceremony will be held Saturday, May 17, 2025, at 11 a.m., at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.
A professional swimmer who has osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, Coan has represented the United States in four Paralympic Games—including Paris 2024—and has won four gold and three silver medals.
“McKenzie is an exceptional speaker and author with a powerful story—and an equally powerful message. We are honored to welcome her as our Commencement speaker, and we look forward to hearing her address our graduating class,” said Terrence M. Sawyer J.D., president of Loyola. “Through her life’s work, McKenzie demonstrates the importance not just of achieving success, but also significance—using her success to help others.”
Coan’s memoir, Breaking Free – Shattering Expectations and Thriving with Ambition in Pursuit of Gold, focuses on her experiences as a Paralympic athlete, living with a genetic condition, and her success in the pool. Coan delivered the Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture at Loyola in 2021.
Coan earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Loyola. She was a member of the school’s NCAA Division I swimming and diving team, and she served as a student member of the campus ADA Compliance Committee. Coan also worked for what is now Loyola’s Disability and Accessibility Services department, where she advocated to improve campus access and safety for wheelchair users.
As a teenager, Coan founded Kenzie Kares, an organization that helps bring happiness to children who are hospitalized.
During the ceremony, Loyola will present Coan with a doctor of humane letters, honoris causa.
For more information about Commencement, visit Loyola's Commencement website.