Breaking News
Top News

Lycoming College holds commencement for 173rd graduating class

By Pat Crossley 4 min read

The bells at Lycoming College's Clarke Chapel rang out the hour as the Oliver Sterling Metzler Gate opened and members of the 173rd graduating class passed through them in a time-honored tradition, beginning the end of a senior year for the students that had been anything but traditional.

Presiding over Saturday's ceremonies was college president Dr. Kent C. Trachte, shared how the students, who began their college experience in Fall 2017 in the manner of many classes before them had ended their career at Lycoming in a very different way.

"Your first year was similar to those experienced by other entering classes," Trachte said.

"Like your predecessors, you marched through the Sykes gates and your welcome to the college culminated in a formal convocation ceremony," he said.

Trachte touched on how the year was filled with typical activities of a first year experience. He went on to list similar events for the students' second and the beginning of their third year at the college, until March 6 last year when the students left for Spring Break and the state announced the first case of the Coronavirus.

"Over the next few days, the situation escalated rapidly and by March 11 more than 1,100 cases had been confirmed in the United States," Trachte said.

It was at that point, Trachte noted, that the decision was made to extend the college break until March 23. Two days later the governor announced the closure of all schools for ten days and the college eventually suspended face-to-face instruction for the remainder of the semester.

Trachte shared with the students and their friends and families that filled the Fultz Quad that over the summer the decision was made to return to in-person instruction in Fall 2020, something that some other universities had tried and failed to do because of the pandemic.

"I believed that Lycoming could succeed where others had failed…I know that you are people who care about others, who truly value the on-campus experience. Any you know what, you have validated our trust in you," he said.

Trachte concluded his remarks by telling the graduates that he felt the experiences over the past year had helped them develop "an enhanced understanding of what it means to be socially responsible."

"Your daily decisions to respect and observe protocols heightened self-discipline and demonstrated your commitment to all the members of our community…Thinking about the potential consequences of your actions and accepting there is the idea that there are time when we must sacrifice our personal desires for the greater good," he added.

Senior speaker for the event, Jalen Williams, also reminisced on the time when as freshman they had been told to "think deeply, act boldly" and how that had been lived out over the last four years.

"Since hearing think deeply, act boldly, the class of 2021 has been on a mission to prove that they are prepared to do just that, and in a pandemic," Williams said. "They have faced the world and all its uncertainties."

"In just those few short years, we have created clubs of substance in the fight for justice and equality. One most important is the "It's On Us" club where many women on this campus fight to see that no one, especially the intelligent women who sit among us today should be subjected to harassment or assault," he added.

During the commencement ceremony, Stanley W. Sloter, class of 1980, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Laws degree. Sloter has served as a member of the Lycoming's Board of Trustees since 2004 and as its chair from 2015-21. Sloter and his wife established the Sloter Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at the college to help formulate an academic program distinctively for entrepreneurship.

Lycoming will host a commencement ceremony for the class of 2020 at 2 p.m. Saturday. The event is by invitation only. A livestream will be available at https://www.lycoming.edu/calendar/.

Starting at /week.