CONWAY, Ark. (May 23, 2020) – The response to
the pandemic of 2020 meant that much of life had to change on short notice.
Some rites of passage didn’t happen in the way participants would have
preferred, commencement ceremonies among them. Instead of taking place in the
Wellness and Athletics Center as originally planned, the 136th
Hendrix College Commencement moved to an online, pre-recorded format.
On Saturday, May 23, Hendrix College announced
the awarding of 270 undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degrees and 10 Master of
Arts degrees in accounting, all of which had been officially conferred on May
16, the date of the originally scheduled in-person graduation ceremony. Read the full list of
graduates
“Over the last few months, you have
demonstrated your resilience, your determination, and your commitment to your
education, unlike any class before you,” Hendrix College President W. Ellis
Arnold III ’79 told the graduates. “You have adapted to many challenges and you
have succeeded. You have left a lasting impression on all of us at Hendrix, and
we will never forget you.”
Before names were announced and a slide shown
for each graduate, the M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor
Emeritus of Politics Dr. Jay Barth ’87, who now serves as Chief Education
Officer for the City of Little Rock, addressed the Class of 2020.
“What the Hendrix experience does so
well—inside and outside the classroom—is to give students the courage to
reinvent themselves,” he said. “The overriding emotion I always feel during
graduations—live or virtual—is joy at recognizing the personal transformations
that have occurred in so many students, across your four years. And, of course,
I’ve seen it in y’all.”
Barth praised the graduates’ fortitude, encouraged
them to continue finding opportunities to recognize the gifts others have to
share, and challenged them to “Keep yourselves open to reinvention and keep
yourselves committed to building community in ways both conventional and
creative. For that is what taking a part of this place into the troubled world
around you requires.”
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix
College consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal
arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40
Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic
quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture
in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has
been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more,
visit www.hendrix.edu.