Address to the Class of 2022 by Centre President Milton C. Moreland

I am honored to welcome the members of the Class of 2022, their parents, grandparents, siblings, and all family and friends to the Commencement of Centre College, and to declare that these exercises, in the 203rd year of this College, are officially opened. 

In many ways, this year has been a welcomed return to what many would call a “normal” college experience. Starting the year with hope – coming out of the pandemic. We have enjoyed this academic year, but not without some difficult times.   

In August 2021, a student was paralyzed in a tragic accident just before the start of his Senior year. Since that time, he has faced an incredible prognosis and beat the odds, returning to campus to resume classes during the spring semester. I would like to acknowledge Britt O’Brien, who is in the audience today, an unofficial member of this class. We are proud of his recovery and look forward to celebrating him next year when he is sitting on the stage. I extend my gratitude to his classmates, friends, coaches, and fellow lacrosse teammates for their unwavering support this year. Fight like an O’Brien! 

This spring our community was deeply saddened by the death of a beloved faculty member that shocked our tightknit campus. Dr. Anne Lubbers, Professor of Biology, enjoyed more than 30 years of teaching in the biology department at Centre. This morning, her seat among the faculty is marked by a wreath, made of the earthly elements she so loved. As you walk on campus this weekend, you will also see Anne’s legacy in the trees planted and the natural garden surrounding Young Hall. Although we continue to feel her loss, her memorial service that included many of her colleagues, family members, and students brought our community together and affirmed the bonds of being a part of the Centre family.

And now, as we celebrate you graduates, we also celebrate two members of our faculty who have spent the last three decades inspiring the hearts and minds of hundreds of Centre students and alumni.

At this time, I would like to invite professors Sheldon Tapley and Philip Lockett to join me on stage.

In 1983, Sheldon Tapley joined the art department, teaching studio art. As the H.W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Art, he has served as the Chair of the Art History and Studio Art programs. Over the last 39 years, Sheldon has taught and mentored many gifted artists and found time to harness his own talents in still-life painting, becoming a nationally recognized artist.  

Philip Lockett has enjoyed teaching physics for the last 32 years at his alma mater. After graduating from Centre in 1973, Philip returned in 1990 and has been a steadfast member of the Physics department. As a researcher in the field of astrophysics, he has involved dozens of Centre students in his projects, successfully modeling astrophysical masers.  

Please join me in thanking Sheldon and Phillip for their untiring dedication to teaching, artistic production and scholarship, and congratulate them on their retirement.

From our extraordinary college have come leaders in government, law, medicine, service, education, the arts, science, and business.  While we have grown far beyond the budding institution founded over 200 years ago here in Danville, Kentucky, we have never grown beyond an intensely personal teaching and learning that encourages students to succeed at extraordinary levels and lead purposeful lives of continual curiosity and discovery. 

Our students, faculty, staff, and devoted alumni are recognized nationally and internationally with the highest of distinctions.  Thanks to this incredible Centre community, it is wonderful for Centre to be recognized as one of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges and universities, and as the Commonwealth’s most prestigious institution. As we celebrate this commencement today with you, we take pride in your many accomplishments.  You give us high confidence that Centre will remain a front-runner in producing thought leaders and change agents for our world. You now have the tool kit to make a difference for good in our world, and we fully expect you to succeed.  

Commencement Weekend is a special time for all of us who choose to work at and serve Centre College. We are so pleased to celebrate with you, the class of 2022, and we count it a blessing to have been part of your lives over the past four years and your future ventures.  

There are several people I would like to thank and welcome this morning as we begin our program:   

We are grateful for the leadership of our faculty marshals and the time and effort at these milestone events. Thank you professors Amos Tubb, Marie Petkus, and Melissa Burns-Cusato.   

I am also grateful for the many members of the College who help plan and host this event each year – especially Tabitha Key, Kelly Knetsche, Megan Milby, Jacky Seaver and the many members of our incredible physical plant staff who work tirelessly to ensure our campus is one of the most beautiful in the nation. 

Thank you, also, to Peter McCaffrey and Jessica Minges, our interpreters for our hearing-impaired audience and are much appreciated for their contribution.  

I also want to thank Dr.  Zachary Klobnak, College Organist and Instructor of Music for his contributions to this morning’s service.  

Finally, I am pleased to recognize several people, including – Centre Trustee Henry Snyder, Class of 2020; Emeritus President John Roush and Susie Miller Roush; and a special welcome to the 31 Legacy families who are in attendance today. 

Yesterday afternoon at our Baccalaureate service, our graduation speaker, Dr. Robb Nash, Class of 1983, delivered a powerful message about the potential to do good and make a change in the world. Although Robb has accomplished so much in his career as a life-long learner who has served the Nashville region as a highly experienced HIV clinician and researcher, his message to our class of 2022 was based on the fact that we must harness the power of working together in groups to take on the entrenched and systemic issues that plague our modern world. Drawing on the image of the wave not being separate from the water, Robb exemplifies what it means to live a purposeful life, working with collaborative teams to attack issues related to homelessness and health disparities. Robb is joined today by his wife Marcie. Please join me in thanking Dr. Robb Nash for his sincere words of wisdom.

Finally, I want extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Rick Axtell.  Rick is the Stodghill professor of Religion at Centre, but he has also been our College Chaplain for 27 years. This is Rick’s final official year as Chaplain, as we transition to a full-time chaplaincy this summer.  Rick will direct our Merida Mexico program next year before retiring in 2024.  But today, we say a special word of thanks for these many years of service to the College as the Chaplain to this community. Thank you for your incredible leadership at Centre College.   

Class of 2022, four years ago we welcomed you into this strong community and congratulated you on the incredible accomplishment of becoming a student at Centre College. Since you arrived on campus, you rose to the occasion, and more! You flourished and prospered as students at Centre, accomplishing so much in the face of significant forces that pushed against you. And today, as we celebrate your graduation, we now welcome you into the Centre family with thousands of other alumni who support this college through a lifetime of relationships, life-long learning, and a commitment to paying this experience forward by supporting the scholarships and financial assistance that help so many students have access to this world-class education. Centre’s strength is due to the incredible support of our alumni, parents, and friends which allows us to offer a personalized, highly esteemed and extremely valuable education.   

I also want to stress this morning that when you joined our community you became part of a group of individuals who commit to the common good by affirming a strong set of core values and high ideals. Centre values creativity in our intellectual pursuits, and compassion and empathy in the many ways we help and support each other. You have flourished as members of this purposeful and tight-knit learning community and we ask you wherever you go and whatever communities you join in the future to embody the Centre spirit and continue to fulfill our commitments to each other.   

At Centre you learned to learn. Your focus here is not just on learning to work, that is: building great skills for the many varied careers that you will have in the coming decades. Your real focus has been on working to learn. Working to learn means that you have developed the skills to take on the challenges of life that lie ahead, regardless of what comes your way. Having learned to learn, you are a problem solvers, and the best problem solvers have an adventurous spirit. Please continue to develop your desire to learn and grow. Understand your limitations and seek to be taught by others and learn from a multiplicity of diverse voices. Be humble enough in your intellectual pursuits to know that you are often wrong or out of your league. But take that as a challenge to better understand new situations and empathize with people who see the world through a different lens. Continue to build your confidence through training, acquiring knowledge, practicing and talking to other people.  

As you make your way from Centre and into your lives ahead I hope you will take on major challenges. Your Centre education has prepared you to learn quickly, to be agile thinkers, and to adapt to your changing circumstances. What you have encountered here has built your creativity and helped you be open to differences.

In the coming years I hope you will practice being empathetic leaders who are constantly building a network of diverse allies, friends, and resources. I hope you seek to be intellectually humble and curious. And I hope that you will seek to be skilled problem solvers who seeks to make a positive impact on our world and have a strong sense of social responsibility. 

Don’t fear new technology, get out of your comfort zones and embrace the unfamiliar. Throughout your lives, as people who have received a premier education in the liberal arts and science, model for others what it means to practice being open minded, with a real respect for knowledge outside your specialized areas of expertise. As Centre alumni be willing to take risks and seek creative solutions. 

Please know that we are in this adventure together and we will continue to support you at every step of the way.

Members of the class of 2022, as we celebrate this commencement today with you, we take pride in your many accomplishments.  You give us high confidence that Centre will remain a world forerunner in producing thought-leaders and change agents for our world.  You have the tool kit to make a difference for good in our world, and we fully expect that is what you will do.

After the awarding of degrees:  

Congratulations to the class of 2022 at Centre College!! 

Centre Graduates, although you have accomplished a great deal in your time at Centre, your abundant achievements would not be possible without the support of many others who are here with us today, particularly family members and our dedicated faculty who have given their time, energy and resources to help make this day possible for you. 

At this time, I would like to ask family members of the graduates to stand and be recognized by the graduates.   

I would now like to ask the faculty of Centre College to stand to be recognized by the graduates.   

I am now pleased to ask Sarah Ali to the podium to offer a response from the class of 2022. I have greatly appreciated getting to know Sarah during the past two years. I am very grateful for her leadership in her senior year as the president of the student government association.  

 GODSPEED  

To you, the class of 2022, I offer my heartfelt congratulations, and leave you with this hope and wish for your future.  

May you always take the winding road!   

May you always be kinder than you need to be to those you meet along the way.  

May your path be filled with creativity, curiosity, and endless courage.  

Please stop along the way to embrace the joys of life and be introspective about your choices and desires.  

Take lots of side roads, living a life filled with improvisation, exploration, and resolution.  

Choose roads that you have never ventured down before.  

Along the winding road, use your Centre education for good: seek justice and equity for others.  

Please know that Centre will always be your home.  

And as your path takes you far and wide in our amazing world, pursue your highest dreams with purpose and empathy.  

And never forget to come home to Danville, Kentucky and Centre College. Let us help support you and celebrate with you throughout your amazing journey on life’s winding road ahead.  

We are so proud of you and can’t wait to see how you use your skills to build a better world.  

Congratulations and godspeed!  

And now, I invite everyone who is able to please stand for the singing of the Alma Mater, led by Sarah Grace Locke of the class of 2022, which is printed at the end of our program. After the singing of the Alma Mater please remain standing for the Benediction that will be delivered by Dr. Rick Axtell.