With tassels at their brow and gowns at their feet, nearly 400 members of Whittier College’s class of 2012 descended on Memorial Stadium to take part in the 109th Commencement Ceremony.
Business Administration and Political Science double major Nikita Patel delivered the student address.
“When asked where you graduated,” Patel told her classmates, “answer it like this: ‘I’m a graduate from Whittier, a small, private liberal arts school . . . in Southern California. Most known as the place where Richard Nixon graduated from – you know, the president.’ So when you say a president went to our College, what you’re really saying is, ‘OK, look, I can one day be the president of the United States.'”
After Patel’s address, the attention was turned to Nobel Prize-winning chemist Mario J. Molina, feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, and educator and advocate Chauncey Veatch, who were each conferred with an honorary doctorate of humane letters (L.H.D.) and appointed honorary Poets.
Molina is the first Mexican-born citizen to receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he was awarded, along with his co-recipient, in 1995 for his role in exposing the threat to Earth’s ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbon gases. From the stage, he spoke of the many challenges currently facing the environment and offered graduates an optimistic message.
“I do believe we can meet the climate change challenge by working together,” Molina said.
Best known as a groundbreaking leader in Christian feminist theology, Ruether has had a distinguished career as a teacher, scholar, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church. During her short speech to the graduates, she celebrated her new honorary title.
“I am . . . very charmed by the reverence of Poets . . .,” said Ruether. “And I am delighted to be welcomed into this community of Poets . . . Fear Poets. This is a calling that I am intrigued to take to heart. To hold an honorary degree from Whittier College is now part of who I am.”
After a distinguished military career, Veatch became a teacher in 1995. He was subsequently named National Teacher of the Year 2002, receiving the honor from President George W. Bush.
Veatch asked graduates to look to the future. “To be a Poet is to be a dreamer,” he said. “Poets dream big things. When your time has passed on this earth, people will point to you and say that [you were] not a dream taker, [but] that each and every one of you was a dream maker.”
In her Charge to the Class of 2012, President Sharon Herzberger lauded the graduates for their many accomplishments and challenged them to make the most of their Whittier education.
“Whittier is not the place for those who relish anonymity, prefer to sit in the back, and allow classmates to give the report. There is a reason why Whittier produces a disproportionate number of alumni with titles like CEO, president, general, superintendent, principal. You have been educated for leadership.
“So, members of the Whittier College Class of 2012, I charge you to use all of your talents, the wisdom and breadth of perspective you gained through the guidance of our faculty, and the values you have assimilated as part of this principled community. Remember that you were privileged to attend this College, and we have been privileged to start you on your way.”
YouTube Videos
- Commencement Address: Mario J. Molina
- Commencement Address: Rosemary Radford Reuther
- Commencement Address: Chauncey Veatch
- Student Speaker: Nikita Patel ’12
Whittier College Senior Moments 