On Sunday, May 22, Cabrini’s Class of 2016 graduated in the institution’s 56th Commencement, making history as the last class to graduate from Cabrini College before it officially becomes Cabrini University on July 1.
“The Class of 2016 is a bridge,” said President Donald B. Taylor, PhD. “You’re a bridge between our illustrious past and Cabrini University’s bright future.”
“After today, we will be handed a blank canvas,” said valedictorian Thomas Hale (’16), a Graphic Design major and dual Spanish and Marketing minor.
“Imagine that this canvas is your life and your future. There are no more syllabi, course objectives, or written deadlines to motivate you. You are now the boss. You are the painter. You alone must decide how to paint this blank canvas.”
During the undergraduate ceremony, Mackenzie A. Harris (’16) was awarded the Mother Ursula Award, presented by Alumni Association President Robert Salladino Jr., EdD (’93, MEd’97).
Named for Cabrini’s founding President, Ursula Infante, MSC, the Mother Ursula Award is the only award given to a student that is voted on by his or her peers, and it honors a student who has best fulfilled the ideals of Cabrini through academic achievement, participation in extracurricular activities, leadership, and service to fellow classmates and Cabrini College.
Eboo Patel, Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a leading voice in the movement for interfaith cooperation and Commencement speaker for both the undergraduate and graduate ceremonies, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
“What does it mean to see oneself as part of a tradition?” asked Patel. “What does it mean to connect directly to the electricity of the source?
“For those of you graduating today: You’re part of a great story. You’re part of a gigantic tradition. The source is present here: Mother Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants, a woman who built 67 institutions in her life. What institutions will you build?
“As you go out there, as you follow your tradition, as you live out the stories of your past and your ancestors and your community, as you connect to the electric currents of the source, as you follow the line of Mother Cabrini and build your institutions, remember where you come from. Remember what it has given you. Remember what you owe to it. Remember the lines of T.S. Eliot: ‘We do not simply inherit traditions. We work to make ourselves worthy of them.’”
For more images, check out Cabrini’s 2016 Commencement on Flickr.