A few weeks from now, Goshen College will host its annual commencement weekend. There will numerous events across campus, all taking place on April 28-29.
The events will kickoff on Saturday at 10 a.m., with the seniors participating in the commencement rehearsal. The rehearsal will start in College Mennonite Church Chapel and end in the Roman Gingerich Recreation-Fitness Center.
Following that the rehearsal will be a pinning ceremony at 1:30 p.m. for the senior nursing majors, which will also take place in the Church-Chapel.
At 5 p.m., a dinner will be offered to graduates, guests and faculty with normal rates applied at the Westlawn Dining Hall.
After dinner, graduates will show off their talent in Sauder Hall during the annual Graduate Celebration. The show will start at 7:30 p.m. A live stream of the event will also be available for those who cannot attend the celebration.
Immediately following the celebration will be the presidential reception, where graduates and their families will be able to interact with President Rebecca Stoltzfus and Kevin Miller, her husband. The reception will be held in the Music Center lobby and outside in the courtyard and be the last in the long line of events on Saturday.
Sunday morning events will start at 11 a.m. with the baccalaureate worship service in the College Mennonite Church-Chapel. President Stoltzfus will deliver the sermon and ASL and Spanish translations of the event will be available to the audience during the service.
Following the service will be a Commencement Brunch from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. offered to the graduates, their family and friends. Tickets will be available for pre-order on the Goshen College website with prices being $10 for adults, $5 for children 5-12 and children under 5 are free.
At 2:40 p.m., the processional line-up will start in the Church-Chapel for graduates, faculty and speaker to start heading towards the Recreation and Fitness center for the Commencement Ceremony.
Goshen College's 120th Commencement Ceremony will start at 3 p.m., with no ticket needed to attend the event.
The keynote speaker for the ceremony will be Dr. Kenneth Rutherford. He is the director of the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery and a professor of political science at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Kathleen Yoder, the Executive Assistant to the President, said that Rutherford was brought to speak partly because he is a good friend of Ken Newbold from when they worked together at JMU.
His work is focused on humanitarianism and he “seemed to fit with Goshen College,” said Yoder.
Rutherford lost both of his legs to a landmine in Somalia while working for the International Rescue Committee. One of his legs was amputated to save his life after he hit a landmine with his vehicle, with the other leg being amputated several years later.
His experience made him an advocate of landmine removal and founded the Landmine Survivor Network in 1995 later changing to Survival Corps.
