Joy Fills the Nest as More Than 1,000 Gulls Graduate at 84th Commencement
Joy enveloped the Nest on Saturday as more than 1,000 Gulls graduated at Endicott’s 84th Commencement on May 18.
Amanda Drager ’24 was one of them.
Drager, a dual entrepreneurship and hospitality major, and the founder of Sugar on Top Bakery, had a day to remember and the semester of her life.
In April, she took home $10,000 in seed funding as the winner of Spark Tank at the Colin and Erika Angle Center for Entrepreneurship—and she was honored at Commencement with the Class of 2024 President’s Award for exemplifying the Endicott College ideals.
“You might say that this is simply the icing on the cupcake,” joked President Steven R. DiSalvo, Ph.D. in presenting Drager the award.
Provost Sara Quay also presented the Founder’s Medallion, which recognizes the graduating senior with the highest academic record, determined by close examination of graduating students’ cumulative GPAs, and the number of transfer and AP credits.
For the first time in Endicott history, two students won Founder’s Medallions: Joshua Collins ’24, a future history teacher who is starting his master’s degree in special education at the College this summer, and Julie Purtschert ’24, who will serve as an Endicott fellow at Killam Elementary School in Reading, Mass., this fall while completing a master’s in social emotional learning.
Though the day was dreary—a pattern for nearly three years now—it was a long-awaited celebration that began long before 2020, when the Class of 2024 first stepped foot on the Endicott College campus.
President DiSalvo tells grads: You’ve learned ‘hard-fought lessons in the power of agility and perseverance’
The Class of 2024’s journey began in the middle of their high school careers, when the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as they knew it, acknowledged President DiSalvo in his Commencement address.
“Normally on this occasion, we would note at some point that the undergraduates waited four long years for this day. But in fact, the Class of 2024 has waited even longer,” President DiSalvo said. “For as you know better than anyone, you never enjoyed a full and proper high school graduation. So, we have a great deal to celebrate together.”
DiSalvo recognized that their graduation narrative is just one of the many ways the Class of 2024 holds a very unique place in Endicott history.
But coming to college wasn’t easy at first, he said.
“Face masks and quarantining compromised your ability to socialize and the opportunity for all of us to get to know each other. But early on you displayed a resilience and a flexibility that would become a hallmark of your class,” President DiSalvo said.
But instead of isolation, the pandemic drew Gulls closer, noted President DiSalvo: “In group settings and one on one, you made the extra effort to look out for each other.”
Throughout their four years on campus, Gulls witnessed the pandemic wane, and their personal growth soar—as well as Endicott’s.
“Our new Hempstead Commons, Cummings School of Nursing & Health Sciences building, and Venuti residence hall are tangible signs of our mission as an organization, following an ethos we urge you to embrace in your days beyond Beverly: Resist complacency, seek opportunities for growth and never stop imagining new possibilities,” President DiSalvo said.
President DiSalvo emphasized the “hard-fought lessons in the power of agility and perseverance” as valuable lessons learned at Endicott, describing them as gifts to the graduates as they join the alumni network.
“If we’ve learned nothing from history, unfortunate realities demand extraordinary responses,” he continued. “For you often cannot choose your circumstances, but you can always choose your response. And it is in those responses that we literally rewrite history. Keep that in mind as you write some history of your own.”
Gavin Emenaker ’24: ‘Through periods of isolation, uncertainty, and virtual activities, we eventually made our way to the Nest’
Applied mathematics major Gavin Emenaker ’24 echoed President DiSalvo’s sentiments in his undergraduate address. “It has been quite a journey to get here today,” he told the Class of 2024.
“Through periods of isolation, uncertainty, and virtual activities, we eventually made our way to the Nest for our first year of college,” continued Emenaker,” who was voted speaker by his classmates. “I want all of you to think about the person you were way back then. Think about your first residence hall, or your first time going to the beach or watching the sunset, or your first time eating at the Lodge late at night.”
During his time as a Gull, Emenaker was a Presidential Ambassador, an Endicott Scholar, and a member of the men’s volleyball team. He also participated in the Athletics Department’s Leadership “LEAD” Program, where he honed his leadership skills and helped advance Endicott’s athletic programs, in addition to his work with the national honor society Mortar Board and volunteering with several organizations.
“And now, think about the person you are right now,” Emenaker continued. “Think about your last internship. Think about your last time going to Bingo, to Gully’s, maybe your last athletics competition, your last club meeting, or maybe your last time working as a tutor, as a tour guide, or as a barista while being a student here. Think about how much you have changed.”
Emenaker said he hardly recognized the person who arrived at the Nest in 2020.
“There is zero chance I could’ve given this speech four years ago. But, slowly and steadily, I rooted myself onto this campus, created some lifelong friendships, became involved in different areas of Endicott, and built long-lasting memories,” he said.
‘Graduate school is … about intellectual, emotional, and personal growth’
Though the Class of 2024 is overwhelmingly comprised of bachelor’s degree recipients, Endicott also awards its share of master’s and doctoral degrees on Commencement.
One of those awardees was Endicott’s own Bryan Cain, Senior Vice President for Student and External Engagement and a newly-minded Ph.D.
Cain’s dissertation, “Rethinking the University President Search: Succession Planning in Higher Education,” was chosen by anonymous selection process to receive the College’s Dissertation Award, a distinction that comes with the responsibility of delivering the graduate Commencement address.
A first-generation college student, Cain said his journey began “in the greatest city in our nation, Detroit—the son of a beer truck driver and a licensed practical nurse.”
Growing up, Cain said, after he had lost both of his parents, “I realized how little we had and it was this, my family’s journey, that instilled in me the value of education and the true power of determination.”
He acknowledged that each of his fellow graduate students carried their own story of how they discovered the power of education, and where the drive to pursue an advanced degree was born. But while speaking to his 2024 doctoral cohort, he said, “I noticed a theme.”
“Many of us, for one reason or another, felt a certain weight of expectations on our shoulders—from our peers, from our families, from society—to reach beyond the ordinary,” he said, adding, “graduate school is not merely about acquiring knowledge, but about intellectual, emotional, and personal growth.”
Chris Christie: ‘Life can’t be lived on your iPhone’
The day’s highlight was the address from two-term New Jersey Governor and former presidential candidate Chris Christie, who made clear in his opening remarks that his speech was not going to be political, thanks to the advice of his daughter, “since you lost,” he said, quoting her.
“I’ve won elections and I’ve lost them, and I’m here to tell you that winning is definitely better than losing,” added Christie, who, moments earlier received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from President DiSalvo. “But I’m also here today to tell you that there is both winning and losing within each of us. I’m a flawed human being. This is not news to the people of New Jersey. But the truth is, we’re all flawed. We will have times where we win, and we will have times when we lose in life.”
Christie advised the Class of 2024 that, even in today’s harsh and divisive atmosphere, you can still listen and forgive. “These are not traits of weakness,” he said. “These are traits of character and strength. But they can only happen if we take the time to listen to one another.”
Drawing upon what he knows best—politics—Christie said if you look at every failed or failing institution in America, one characteristic is always present: the declining presence of human connection.
“In Congress they fail because they no longer socialize with each other. They no longer talk with each other. They Tweet at each other. They stereotype each other,” he said.
And this initiated the overall theme of his talk—that technology has provided humans a shield to hide behind, but people are losing touch with one another, becoming more anxious, isolated, and depressed along the way.
“We spend more time texting each other than we do talking to each other, more time posting online than looking each other in the eye and making a real human connection,” he said. “Despite the promise of technology to connect us, we live in a time when more people than ever are lonely,” he said, adding that loneliness was the most important issue facing our world.
“So, what can we do to turn this around? How can we restore and revitalize human relationships, human companionship? It’s much easier to retreat to these technologies and the safe bubbles they create for us, but life can’t be lived on your iPhone,” he told the Class of 2024. “Sometimes, it’s the unexpected encounters and the uncomfortable interactions that create the most lasting impressions on our lives.”
But how do you show up in life and not just let life happen to you? Christie wondered.
“I can’t provide any easy answers for you,” he said. “But I urge you to challenge yourselves to find the answer that works for you to achieve this goal. But life is richer and more complicated when we engage with people when it is messy, and difficult, and sometimes painful. Because it’s those emotions that can lead to exhilaration, and triumph, and love.”
As they prepared to depart the Nest, Christie also implored the Class of 2024 to lead with kindness: “Treating others with kindness, with respect, with curiosity, with humor, with integrity, with honesty, with love, will always make your life one filled with adventures.”