| Commencement 2008: Students Celebrate a Shared Experience |
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MICUA Matters Summer 2008
While most college seniors will look back on their
graduation ceremony as a day of pomp and circumstance culminating in a
handshake and a diploma, for Washington College senior Emma Sovich, 22, an
English major from Baltimore, the ceremony brought another reward: a check
With nearly 900 students, the class of 2008 marks College of Notre Dame of Maryland’s largest number of graduates ever. This year’s class included five students who received the first doctoral degrees from the College, which launched the Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations Ph.D. program in 2004. In addition, Ron Wooden—Harford County’s 2008 teacher of the year—completed his studies in December and walked in graduation ceremonies.
 At Sojourner-Douglass College, 160 bachelor’s degree
candidates and 23 master’s degree candidates crossed the stage as they were
presented with their degrees, cheered on by families and loved ones. The theme
of commencement was “Today we are fighting for the dream—tomorrow we will live
the dream.”
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For thousands of MICUA students, years of hard work, good
times, intellectual intensity, and personal growth reached their culmination at
commencement 2008. Although official counts aren’t yet tallied, about 14,000
MICUA students earned degrees this year. Graduates were inspired, challenged,
and entertained by commencement speakers including a congressman and a
delegate, a surgeon and a singer, an archbishop and an actor, a public radio
host and a news correspondent. A few of the diverse experiences of MICUA
graduates are highlighted below.
for
$67,481. Sovich's prizewinning portfolio—a collection of poems, critical essays
and essays from her blog—earned her the largest literary award in the country
exclusively for undergraduates, the Sophie Kerr Prize at the College’s 225th
commencement.
Navon Ferrell, a Capitol College graduate, commented that
the College has given him a sense of pride in his accomplishments. “A Capitol
education has brought me far, from being a lifeguard to a position at Lockheed
Martin. The least we can do as new graduates is to give back to the campus.”