181st Commencement Set for Sunday

Wabash College will celebrate its 181st Commencement on Sunday, May 12, at 2:30 p.m. on the College Mall. The ceremony will be streamed live at www.wabash.edu/live.

Currently, 198 students are scheduled to receive their sheepskin diplomas from President Gregory D. Hess. 

As is Wabash’s long-standing tradition, two graduating seniors, Quinn Cavin and Jaleel Grandberry, will be the only featured speakers during the Commencement ceremony.

Cavin, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, majored in theatre and psychology and received distinction on comprehensive exams. Throughout his collegiate career, Cavin made numerous appearances on the Wabash stage, including The History Boys, The Pitmen Painters, Peter and the Starcatcher, Our Town, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Misanthrope, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,and This Is Our Youth. He is the recipient of the 2019 Phi Beta Kappa Award  for his short film, Rain Dance, which stars Professor of Theater Michael Abbott and James Austin Ridley. Cavin will be moving to New York City in June to pursue a career in writing and producing for film and television. He is the son of Curt and Rebecca Cavin of Noblesville, Indiana.

Grandberry majored in rhetoric and minored in creative writing. During his time at Wabash, he played middle linebacker for the Wabash football team and was a part of the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, serving a year as chairman. In April, he was presented with the Malcolm X Institute Service Award. He has worked as a member of Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse initiative for three years, as well as a writer and basketball broadcast commentator for the Sports Information Department. Grandberry has served twice as a writing tutor for the Wabash Liberal Arts Immersion Program (WLAIP) and has also completed internships with the NFL Network and the Indianapolis Colts. Grandberry will be starting his career in sports journalism and hopes to eventually create an organization that combines athletic training with community development. He is the son of Joseph and Kimberly Grandberry of Chicago, Illinois.

The College will award honorary degrees to Mauri A. Ditzler ’75, President of Albion College, and Robert H. Johnson H’77, retired head coach of the College’s track and field and cross country teams and a leader with the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies since its founding at Wabash College. 

On Saturday, May 11, 28 students will be inducted into the Wabash chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honorary society. To be inducted this year are seniors Patrick Azar (Valparaiso, IN), Matthew Bailey (Westfield, IN), Joseph Bertaux (Noblesville, IN), Brent Breese (Hobart, IN), Nicholas Budler (Sugar Grove, IL), Sergio-Steven Cobos (Fort Wayne, IN), Zachary Havlin (Zionsville, IN), Cal Hockemeyer (Fort Wayne, IN), Matthew Hodges (Carmel, IN), Matthew Hopkins (Fillmore, IN), Ahad Khan (Lahore, Pakistan), Erich Lange (Hamilton, OH), Joseph Lenkey (Greenwood, IN), Joseph Patacsil (West Lafayette, IN), Cole Payne (Culver, IN), Andrew Puente (Missions, TX), Anish Rauniyar (Kathmandu, Nepal), Runtao Song (Zhengjiang People Republic of China), Max Von Deylen (Indianapolis, IN), Justin Woodard (Lebanon, IN), and Yongjin Yi (Glenview, IL); and juniors Maxwell Atkins (Noblesville, IN), Joseph Ballard (Evansville, IN), Nathan Gray (Indianapolis, IN), Abraham Kiesel (Haubstadt, IN), Benjamin Kiesel (Evansville, IN), Alexander Pittsford (Ellettsville, IN), and Samuel Stephenson (Kaohsiung City, Taiwan).

In addition, the Senior Art Exhibition will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Eric Dean Gallery in the Fine Arts Center. The exhibition features the work of senior art majors Nicholas Buening, Griffin Hall, Austin Nightingale, and David Thomas.

Commencement Day at Wabash begins at 11 a.m. with the Baccalaureate ceremony, which will be held in Pioneer Chapel. Rev. Dr. Jessicah Krey Duckworth will give the Baccalaureate sermon. Duckworth is the program director in the religion division of Lilly Endowment Inc.

At the conclusion of the Commencement ceremony, President Hess will ring out the Class of 2019 with the Caleb Mills Bell before leading them through the Senior Arch to the steps of the Allen Athletics and Recreation Center, where the graduates will sing the school song, “Old Wabash.”  

Following the ceremony, there will be a reception for the Class of 2019 near the Frank Hugh Sparks Center west portico (between Morris and Wolcott Halls).

In the event of inclement weather, Sunday’s Commencement exercises will be held in Chadwick Court of the Allen Athletics and Recreation Center.