MCLA presented diplomas and certificates to 417 graduates on Saturday. More photos here.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts awarded 417 degrees and certificates on Saturday at its 116th commencement.
The crowd in the Amsler Campus Center shouted and applauded as the graduates took to the stage to receive 366 bachelor's degrees, 26 masters of education, nine Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies and 16 Professional masters of business administration degrees.
Derrick Z. Jackson, award-winning Boston Globe columnist, photographer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, told the graduates they would join alumni who had found meaning in their careers in science, education, finance and public service.
MCLA graduates rank high in a survey asking if they felt their work was making the world a better place, he said, at the same level as Williams, Wellesly and others, and higher than Brown, Cornell, Vanderbilt and Princeton.
"You should feel darn good about yourselves," Jackson told the applauding graduates. "This is proof that college is not where you go, but what you make of it."
His own son, Tano Holmes, had turned down Harvard to attend MCLA, graduating in 2013 and going on to culinary school. He is now working at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
"Some schools claim you can find a top career through them," he said. "MCLA allowed my son to find himself. I could be no more proud of my son graduating here than him graduating from Harvard."
Jackson said it was more important to focus on getting something out of a college education rather than focusing on a name. He had found the same support and purpose at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. (His wife, Michelle Holmes, found it at Harvard.)
He also had found support and inspiration from his late parents — from his father who had insisted common sense was just as important as a straight As and his mother who decided to pursue an associate's degree in business when he started at college.
He used to drop her off at the community college on his way to school.
"When I watched her walk up those stairs I knew, I could not fail," Jackson said. "My mother gave me a rock solid sense of identity and not selling out."
She had been raised in segregated Mississippi. When the Milwaukee native was visiting his grandfather there as a child in the 1960s, not long after the murder of several civil rights workers, he'd gone into a drugstore and bought comics and an ice cream cone, not knowing or understanding it was a "white" store.
Instead of reacting in anger or fear, his grandfather had smiled and said, "Good."
"I did not recognize it at the time, but it was my grandfather's permission to challenge the world," he said, adding he had fully realized it when hearing story from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of how she had been hollered at by a white store clerk in Birmingham, Ala., for touching a hat.
Her mother, she told Jackson, had rebuked the clerk and told her "you go and touch every hat in this store."
"While these stories on the surface seem heavily intertwined with race because that is my heritage, they are also universal no matter your heritage," Jackson said. "For today is the day when, MCLA, you are commanded to go out and touch every hat in this store you call life."
More than a few graduates already had their goals spelled out on their caps. Brendan T. Peltier's was "Peltier 4 President 2032." This year's president of the Student Government Association was thinking maybe college president, maybe U.S. president.
"You never know," he said. He's definitely planning to attend graduate school possibly —Merrimack College in North Andover or the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs — to attain a master's in public affairs. Then work as a legislative aide at the State House, or in college administration.
What he hadn't planned on was attending MCLA in the first place. It was his grandmother who got his name on the application because she liked the idea of a small liberal arts college.
"I didn't really know about MCLA. I was going to a different institution but my grandmother had me sign a piece of paper, unwillingly, for an application. I got accepted, we came up for a ride and I've loved it ever since," Peltier, of Worcester, said. "It was the best decision I made coming here. It's a phenomenal institution and a great opportunity."
For Cynthia Chevett, it was the convenience as well as the support.
The Becket resident works at Head Start in Lee and, on Saturday, was among the first cohort to receive bachelor's degrees in early education through a flexible two-year program. Chevett was able to take classes weekly at the Intermodal Center in Pittsfield and later at the Berkshire Museum.
"It was awesome," she said. "You couldn't ask for better advisers, better teachers, the support group was awesome. The cohort was fantastic. I can't say enough good about it."
Jackson was awarded an doctor of journalism degree. Also receiving honorary degrees this year were John "Jack" and Bette Sue "Susy" Wadsworth, supporters of educational and cultural activities in the Berkshires, and throughout the world. Jack Wadsworth received an honorary doctor of business and Susy Wadsworth an honorary doctor of public service. Jani Maselli Wood, class of 1985, an assistant public defender for the Harris County Public Defender's Office, received an honorary doctor of laws.
Graduate Brendan T. Peltier during one of many photos being taken after commencement ceremonies.
Christine Condaris, faculty marshal, led the procession; graduates Jake Bonenfant, Courney A. McLaren and Lance R. Ruggiero sang "America the Beautiful"; presentation and announcement of candidates was by Vice President of Academic Affairs Monica Joslin and professor Graziana Ramsden, respectively.
Interim President Cynthia Brown gave the welcome and thanked the faculty and staff for their efforts in making MCLA a welcoming and supportive institution. In closing,
"I hope you are going to take from your college experience with the belief that we all find ways to improve our world and build a better future," she said in closing. "You remain focused on the future. Not only did you remain focused many of you had multiple responsibilities while working toward your degree. You held down jobs and served in leaderships positions, you organized events and volunteered your time.
"I am so proud of everything you've accomplished."
Elizabeth M. Doughty, class of 2015, challenged her classmates to keep the friends they had made over the years.
"No matter how long the journey really was, there is at least one person you knew you could count on to support you through it all and will continue to support you no matter where you go," she said. "Today I would like to remind you to thank your friends. Often we forget the importance of a simple thank you."
Danielle Gismondi, receiving her master of education, told of a lesson she had learned this winter when a butterfly chrysalis her preschool class was excited about had emitted an ugly larvae instead.
"Over the winter, instead of a beautiful butterfly growing inside our chrysalis, a parasitic fly was eating it from the inside out."
"I thought my little nuggets would be devastated. I thought I had failed them," she said. "First they were horrified, then they were offended, then they were so into the discovery of this weird, strange thing."
Things don't always turn out the way you think, said Gismondi, but there's always a gem to be found.
"For the graduating class of 2015, I urge you to shift your perspective to be open to a thousand different possibilities and let go the things that no longer serve you. Be kind, compassionate and ever evolving in the way you see the world.
"May your chrysalis always produce a butterfly, and if it doesn't, may something equally fascinating emerge."
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Graduate Brendan T. Peltier during one of many photos being taken after commencement ceremonies.
