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Please be seated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to the one hundred and sixtieth commencement of Bates College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome parents, families, and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to our esteemed special guests: today\u2019s recipients of Bates honorary degrees, seated here on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to several members of the Bates Board of Trustees with us today, including two of our Board leadership team\u2014themselves both Bates alumni AND parents: Chair Greg Ehret, Class of 1991, and parent of a member of the Class of 2023; and Vice Chair Jean Wilson, Class of 1981, and parent of members of the Classes of 2005 and 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome, Bates faculty and staff. And WELCOME, graduates of the Bates Class of 2026! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether you are joining us in person on the Historic Quad or by livestream from across the country and around the world, we are delighted to have you with us on this joyous occasion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before beginning our program, I\u2019d like to invite you to join me in thanking the events and the facilities staff and everyone else who worked so hard to prepare this event so beautifully. Let\u2019s thank them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seniors, let us also take a moment to express the gratitude I know you all feel, for all the family, friends, and loved ones (here or spread across the globe)\u2014and for the faculty and staff\u2014who have been behind you, supporting you, and encouraging you, at every point along your path to this momentous milestone. I invite you to stand, as you are able, turn around, and show them your thanks and appreciation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the Class of 2026, you are a remarkably accomplished group. 484 of you will march across this stage this morning, representing 41 states and the District of Columbia and 30 countries. Fifty-nine of you are the first in your family to graduate from college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You have knit this campus and community together over the past four years through your engagement and leadership in residence life, as club presidents, as members of student government, as debaters, and as team captains in athletics. You have inspired us with your gifts of music, performance, art making, research, thesis writing, and your endless intellectual curiosity. You have served as Multifaith and Admission Fellows, as Purposeful Work Peer Advisors and EcoReps and Bonner Leaders, and so much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
148 of you are double majors. Two of you are triple majors. 39 of you received departmental honors for a year-long thesis. 60% of you have studied abroad. 39% of you have participated in a varsity sport while at Bates, many winning All-NESCAC honors and even some being named All-Americans and a small handful of you were even crowned NCAA national champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An astounding number of you have been recognized with prestigious national honors. Two of you are Goldwater Scholars. One of you is a Truman Scholar. One of you won a Watson Fellowship. And a whopping FIFTEEN of you are Fulbright Scholars!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(And while we\u2019re talking about national honors: How about the fact that two of your Bates professors won Guggenheim Fellowships, among the most respected and prestigious honors in the American academy.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All this you have achieved while also giving back, especially here in Lewiston, supporting the work of over 100 off-campus schools and organizations through research, volunteering, community work-study, and course-based projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are now off to continue your education in fields like law, medicine, national and international security, education, architecture, and engineering. You will study at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Yale, Tufts and Johns Hopkins, Brown and Georgetown, King\u2019s College London, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are launching exciting careers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And some of you are still deciding what\u2019s next or taking more time to open up the doors you wish to walk through. We are excited for all of you, and we know that your liberal arts education will leave you well poised to flourish and make meaningful contributions in whatever you pursue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me just share a few brief thoughts about where you\u2019ve been and where you\u2019re going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are not here by accident. You identified something in Bates that made you want to become part of this special community, and Bates identified something in you that told us we would be better for bringing you here. There are a million different qualities and experiences that you and only you have had that made you an essential part of the Bates community and that have prepared you for a bright future ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there are also the qualities you share. Yes, the experiences, too\u2014those you have shared over the past four years on this campus\u2014but for me the headline qualities are HEART and HUMANITY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You possess within you uncommon, unlimited, unparalleled heart and humanity. When people talk about the community here, the kindness of the students here; there’s something deeper beneath that, something that will last a lifetime\u2014and contribute to your success and to the talent you will bring to your organizations, to your communities\u2026to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is in all that you do: in the way you listen to one another, in how you show up for each other, in how you collaborate and work effectively with others, in how you explore and celebrate and grieve and triumph together. I have seen this heart and humanity in action in moments big and small across the three years I\u2019ve been fortunate to share with you at Bates, and I tell you something: It is deep and it is real, and it is not to be taken for granted. We can think of it as a \u201cBates thing\u201d but it\u2019s more than that\u2026it\u2019s a \u201cyou thing.\u201d It\u2019s who you are, who you have become, what you will take with you\u2026 It may even be your secret weapon that will contribute to your successes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of this you already had when you got here, of course. But I\u2019m going to give Bates SOME credit\u2014maybe even, a LOT of credit!\u2014for developing and sharpening your powers of heart and humanity during your time on our campus, because I think these are things that we (a) care about more intensely and value more highly, and (b) pay more attention to cultivating as a central part of a Bates education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One way I think about it: yes, Bates people are kind. But not surface-y, or performatively, kind. They are kind in a thoughtful way\u2014considering their words and actions\u2014thinking about how they affect others\u2014moving through the world with an active intention to be good to those around them\u2014to make things better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Bates, you have learned to speak with heart. To speak FROM the heart. To match sentiment with reason; to support conviction with evidence. You have learned how to disagree without rancor\u2014and to listen when faced with an argument that may be informed by experiences or perspectives other than your own. You take other people, and their ideas, seriously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This matters. This is heart and humanity at work. And to do it well is a superpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I already mentioned some of the spheres in which you will begin applying your Bates-honed powers of heart and humanity. But whatever your next chapter might look like, you can be confident in the knowledge that your time here has prepared you uniquely well for what lies ahead. In fact, these powers and sensibilities will enrich not just the next chapter but actually all the chapters ahead, and, ultimately, make the book of your life a truly remarkable one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We see the proof all around us, in the Bates alumni who bring heart and humanity to their work in expanding knowledge, shaping organizations and enterprises with wisdom and resolve, improving the human experience, fighting for justice, protecting the natural world we all share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And as our society continues reaching and then surpassing new technological frontiers, we see the best emerging from those who\u2014like many of you\u2014engage with new technologies with reason, with exploration, with seriousness, and with heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all, it\u2019s not a matter of either\/or\u2014the tech or the heart and humanity. It\u2019s both. And those who have both the ability AND that humanity\u2014powerful minds AND powerful hearts\u2014are what the world needs\u2014and, not incidentally, what employers need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t believe me? Apple founder Steve Jobs said it in 2011, at the launch of the iPad 2: \u201cTechnology alone is not enough\u2014it\u2019s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.\u201d Heart and humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bates Class of 2026, you all make my heart sing, because whatever you do, I know you will do it with heart and with humanity. And in so doing, you will elevate both the realities and the aspirations of those around you, making this world a better place. You have all you need to succeed in whatever you choose\u2026 And whatever you choose, wherever life takes you, your college will always be here for you, cheering you on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are so very proud of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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