commencement - Bulletin: Campus Magazine

Goshen College 110th Commencement

April 27, 2008

: this article features extended content, exclusive to the Bulletin online

The Class of 2008 consisted of 230 graduates – 158 of them candidates for Bachelor of Arts degrees and 72 candidates for Bachelor of Science degrees

Photos from Commencement Weekend:

- Nurses' Pinning Ceremony
- Senior Program
- Baccalaureate Service
- Processional
- Commencement Ceremony
- Friends & Family Celebrate

Related links:

CLASS OF 2008 HIGHLIGHTS

Total number of graduates: 230 bachelor degrees, 1 one-year certificate

Number of double majors: 23

Number of students graduating with highest honors (grade point averages of 3.9 to a perfect 4.0): 27

Number of students graduating with GPAs of 3.60 and above: 88

Number of states represented in this year’s graduating class: 24

Number from Indiana: 89

Number of countries outside the U.S. represented by our grads: 14 — Bangladesh, Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay

Number of graduates by top programs of study: nursing – 55; organizational leadership – 16; Bible and religion – 14; psychology – 14; social work – 13; elementary education – 12; communication – 11; history – 11.

Goshen College’s Class of 2008 received degrees Sunday, April 27th — the culmination of years of hard work and prayer — after being encouraged to be life-long learners and to reach for high goals by President James E. Brenneman and Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava, an advocate for poor people in Africa.

The Class of 2008 consisted of 230 graduates – 158 of them candidates for Bachelor of Arts degrees and 72 candidates for Bachelor of Science degrees. The class included 23 graduates with double majors — one more than in 2007.

Twenty-seven students graduated with highest honors – grade point averages of 3.9 to a perfect 4.0. In addition, 88 others were on track to achieve GPAs of 3.60 and above. Sunday was the second consecutive year, after a break of four decades, that the college has recognized such academic honors.

"God has a plan for you, so keep on climbing...

When you start climbing the Mount Whitney of your life, you will encounter many obstacles. Maybe you’ve got the wrong family name. Maybe your dream job is already taken. Maybe the girl or boy you want to marry is in love with somebody else. But if you take these obstacles as opportunities and refuse to be discouraged by them, they will actually make you stronger … Know your source of power.”
Don’t disconnect yourself from you community. Your community will do as much for you as you should do for your community. You are nothing without your community. It may be your local village or it may be your global village. You need your community and your community needs you … Love your community and serve your people.”
You’ve got talent. You’ve got a vision. You’ve got a dream. And you’ve got passion. But suddenly everything around you crumbles, everything goes wrong. Let me tell you: If you know your God and trust him completely with your life, relax. Keep on your journey.

– Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava >> click to read full commencement address

"I pray that each of you will find that comforting place of unpretension, where laughter at yourself in the presence of the divine or others will no longer be a source of embarrassment, where the whirlwind of God’s presence will come to you as a source of deep knowledge and perception, where for a time you will find rest in the grace of the world, which is at base, the grace of God, and where the true peace of God will be yours forever"

– President James E. Brenneman >> click to read full baccalaureate sermon