Hundreds of Wabash College graduates turned their tassels and proudly walked under the Senior Arch during the 186th Commencement ceremony, officially marking the end of one chapter and beginning of another.
Trustees, faculty, staff, students, and their families attended the celebration Saturday, on a warm and sunny spring day at Little Giant Stadium.
The 184 men of the Class of 2024 received their diplomas from President Scott Feller.
“I wish you a hearty congratulations on your many achievements in our classrooms, theaters and concert halls, playing fields, and our community,” Feller began in his address. “You are better for your time here. 皇冠足球比分_澳门皇冠体育-在线|平台@ are better for the time we have spent with you.”
Celebrating his own graduation as president—having started in the role four years ago—Feller asked graduates to remember back to those “uncertain COVID-19 times.”
During the 2020 Ringing In ceremony, Feller challenged students to build lifelong relationships with their peers, professors, and coaches, to get involved in extracurriculars outside of the classroom, and to take advantage of the endless resources and opportunities Wabash has to offer.
“Here we are, four years later, and you have done all the things we imagined together that August evening,” Feller told graduates. “I hope you will reflect on the last four years and think about the friends you made; the laughter you shared; the times you lifted up one another; and the many ways you made your brothers better people and better men.
“As you leave our College today, I have high hopes for you,” he continued. “It is my hope that in times of adversity that you will rely on the brotherhood and friendships you have developed these last four years, and let Wabash Always Fights be a guide for your life.”
In keeping with a long-standing Wabash tradition, two graduating seniors were the only featured speakers at the event. The Class of 2024 Commencement speakers were William “Liam” Grennon and Benjamin Mijangos Sampsell.
Grennon was a four-year varsity tennis player and two-year captain of the team, treasurer of the student body, and serves on Delta Tau Delta’s national undergraduate council. He worked as a First Plus fellow for the English department, and as an enrollment ambassador and Writing Center consultant.
The English major and history minor from Concord, New Hampshire, reflected on his last four years and shared an important lesson he learned while at Wabash: to have the courage to make mistakes and learn from them.
“皇冠足球比分_澳门皇冠体育-在线|平台@ will certainly take missteps, make mistakes, and fail in the world that awaits us, much like we have at Wabash,” Grennon said. “In those moments, I implore you to remember our mantra Wabash Always Fights. To me, those words have come to represent the self-belief I have found here. It is a commitment that regardless of the circumstances, we never stop persisting.
“Uncertainty will always be there,” he continued. “How we confront that uncertainty, and the anxiety it can bring, is a question each of us will inevitably answer for ourselves. It won’t always be perfect, it won’t always be comfortable, but it will be what we make of it.”
Grennon will attend Northeastern School of Law in the fall.
Sampsell was a member of Delta Tau Delta, Phi Beta Kappa, W