![2023 Commencement Ceremony - aerial view]()
713 undergraduate students became young alumni this past Saturday at our 177th Commencement ceremony. Sarah Brown Wessling, the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, opened the keynote speech by explaining to our students that this would be one of those moments where “beginnings and endings are so intertwined, it’s tough to know which one you’re feeling right now. Luckily, it isn’t one or the other. It is both. It’s one of those places we often resist because it isn’t certain… but what 25 years in the classroom has taught me is that the very best stories always require the unknown, and you are the best stories yet to be told. The best stories come from these moments, not from knowing how it ends before you begin.”
She went on to explain that, “The most time honored tradition [of a graduation ceremony] is to walk across the stage. While this isn’t particularly difficult… about 20 steps from one end to the other... the difficult part is to consider what that walk means.” Wessling explained the significance of crossing a threshold and how we don’t do it alone. We take those that got us to this point along with us in mind, body, and spirit. In 2010, Wessling traveled to Washington DC to accept the National Teacher of the Year award. While waiting in the The Roosevelt Room to receive the award from the President of the United States, her four-month-old child “had a blowout,” and like any good mother, she sprang into action and changed the diaper. With no disposal in sight, she did what she had to do… wrapping it in a plastic bag and putting it in her backpack. From this experience she learned, “No matter what kind of crap you’re carrying with you, it does not prevent you from stepping into your next best self” and as she crossed the threshold into the Oval Office, “the faces of hundreds of students, their promises, and their stories held tightly in her heart.” Pausing, she asked our graduates “What do you want to carry with you when you make this walk?”
Wessling closed her speech with an inspirational metaphor, saying, “Graduating Class of 2023, it is time to put one foot in front of the other, and step courageously into your next best self. I can’t wait to watch you walk.”