Wabash College graduates marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another during the 187th Commencement ceremony, receiving their diplomas and proudly walking under the Senior Arch.
Trustees, faculty, staff, students, and their families filled into Little Giant Stadium, where President Scott Feller rang in the Class of 2025 four years ago. This time they sat shoulder to shoulder rather than six-feet apart—marking the first class to be both rung in and rung out on Frank Navarro Field.
“Focus on building lifelong relationships with roommates, fraternity brothers, and teammates,” Feller said at the Ringing In ceremony in August 2021. “Make your Wabash journey enriching, engaging, and intellectually challenging in life-changing ways.”
Now on the other side of their Wabash College experience, the 186 men in the Class of 2025 celebrated their accomplishments and received their diplomas from President Feller.
“I remember asking you an important question on that sunny August afternoon when I rang you in,” said Feller. “I asked you: ‘How will you ensure that – four years from now – you are not looking back with regret at opportunities lost? Not lost from COVID, but lost because you didn’t step forward to embrace them.’”
“To say you stepped up is a striking understatement,” he continued.
In keeping with long-standing Wabash tradition, two graduating seniors were the featured speakers at the event. The Class of 2025 Commencement speakers were Luis Rivera III and Logan Weilbaker.
Rivera was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sphinx Club, Sons of Wabash, the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, and La Alianza. He served as president of Psi Chi, Lambda Chi Alpha, and ’shOUT, was a senior fellow for Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse, and the lead speech tutor for the rhetoric department.
The psychology major and gender studies and Black studies double-minor from Raleigh, North Carolina, urged his classmates to step into the world with conviction and compassion.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re graduating with a 4.0 or a 2.0. What matters is how you carry this name—not just on your diploma, but in the way you show up in the world,” said Rivera. “Use your status as a Wabash alumnus not just to propel yourself forward—but to lift others as you climb.”
“That’s the beauty of this moment,” he continued. Whatever comes next, you’re walking into it with the heart, the grit, and the brotherhood that only Wabash could’ve given you.”
Logan Weilbaker is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sons of Wabash. He has been on and near the stage for 13 years—directing five plays, designing sound, running lights, assisting with wardrobe, working the theater box office, and traveling to Prague on an immersion experience to participate in a puppet-carving workshop. He was a member of the Glee Club, a tutor in the writing center, and an award-winning writer and editor for The Bachelor.
The theater and Classics double-major from Scottsburg, Indiana, spoke to the Wabash man’s duty to give thanks for the lessons, resources, and opportunities provided during their time at the College and to take action.
“Let me remind you: The world we are entering into does not exist yet,” Weilbaker said. “It is waiting for young men who have been taught to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely to come forth and invent it.”
“Wabash students are proven creators,” he continued. “When we venture beyond these classic halls today, we have the choice to create the world we want to inherit. I look forward to sharing that world with you.”
During Commencement, the College also awarded two honorary doctor of humane letters degrees to Robert P. Chamness ’75 and Kevin G. Clifford ’77.
Chamness was a standout political science student and member of Delta Tau Delta. After Wabash, he received a law degree from Indiana University and began building a distinguished career in banking and financial services law, authoring 30 books for the American Bankers Association and assisting on the landmark Supreme Court decision allowing banks in one state to offer credit in any state. After 15 years in legal practice, he held executive roles at Concentrex and Digimarc, leading major IPOs, acquisitions, and global expansions while advancing digital security technologies. A devoted alumnus, Chamness has served as a Wabash class agent for 25 years and celebrates his 50th reunion this June.
“Bob, we challenge our graduates each year to be good Wabash men, and to be men who make a difference in our world. You provide a sterling example of the value of a holistic liberal arts education,” said Feller.
Clifford, a Chicago native and political science major, played football at Wabash and served as president of the Independent Men’s Association before joining the coaching staff of the 1977 Stagg Bowl team. He worked his way up the corporate ladder to become chairman and CEO of American Funds, the world’s largest active fund manager. A dedicated Wabash trustee for decades, Clifford led transformative initiatives in student recruitment, chaired the presidential search for Gregory Hess, and played a key role in major capital projects, including Little Giant Stadium.
“Kevin G. Clifford, for nearly half a century you have delivered the leadership that has kept Wabash from becoming ‘just another place where young men may go to receive a degree,’” said Feller. “Your gifts of time, talent, treasure – wisdom, experience, and charisma – have shaped the trajectory of our College and we are grateful for your devotion to it.”
Commencement day opened with a Baccalaureate sermon delivered by Reverend Zach Hoover ’01, Executive Director of LA Voice, at Pioneer Chapel.
In addition to the Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies, 28 students were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honorary society.
The seniors inducted this year were Richard Ballentine, Nicholas Bastian, Benjamin Casica-Patton, Connor Craig, Andrew Dever, Luka Di Filippo, Aidan Geleott, Justin Gineris, Elijah Greene, Ethan Johns, Quinn Manford, Robert Manuzzi, Thomas Oppman, Gabriel Pirtle, Preston Reynolds, Luis Rivera III, Justin Santiago, Caden Short, Jacob Weber, and Logan Weilbaker. Inductees from the junior class were Precious Ainabor, Augusto Ghidini, Tri An Le, Justin Lewis, Arman Luthra, Braden Potters, Augustin Sanchez, and John Schnerre.
Before ringing out the Class of 2025 with the bell Caleb Mills once used to call Wabash students to class, President Feller assigned graduates one final task.
“Gentlemen, you have received a liberal arts education imbued with empathy and compassion. You are critical thinkers, effective communicators, and problem-solvers. You have built stores of resilience that will get you through the hard times ahead. And you are equipped with the knowledge and virtues to change the world,” Feller continued. “Our charge to you is simple: go forth and do exactly that.”