College of St. Joseph

It’s not often that a college class is treated to an academically themed life lesson worthy of a lecture hall on their graduation day.

But that’s exactly what the 103-member class of 2009 received Sunday at College of St. Joseph in Rutland.

The black-robed graduates and hundreds of friends and relatives filled the college gymnasium for the 50th graduation ceremony of its kind at the Catholic institution.

The graduates had already received their degrees when Dr. John Bremer, an author and educator of social and educational philosophy and practice, took the stage to give the departing students one last thing to think about in his commencement address.

“As graduates, you inherit a world that is less than perfect, as I did nearly 60 years ago, and as every generation does in its due time, but our problem is not primarily to reform the world … but to reform ourselves, to make and remake ourselves,” Bremer said.

During the course of his 3,300-word speech, Bremer cited literary works ranging from the Bible’s Genesis to Owen Wister’s “The Virginian” and Robert Frost’s “After Apple-Picking” to make the case that the academic preparation the students were completing had only provided them the tools to interpret and give meaning to the actions and experiences they would soon encounter in the world at large.

“We are free to choose, to consider, reflect and decide what meaning we shall create and give things. … The meaning of what you and I have learned will be our creation.”

Photograph taken by Cassandra Hotaling/ Rutland Herald.

Leave a Suggestion/Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.