Thank You, CC Community

Dear Campus Community,

It has been an honor serving as your acting co-presidents over the past year. Today marks our last day before President L. Song Richardson begins her tenure as 14th president of Colorado College tomorrow. 

To our faculty, staff, and students: Thank you for all you have done over the past year to support one another and our community. Thanks to your dedication and flexibility, we took on each challenge as a community and achieved a successful academic year.

We also owe our thanks to the many families, alumni, and friends who continue to support our students. This was a difficult year for many, and we are grateful to you for your time, energy, and volunteerism. We couldn’t have done it without you.

As the world begins to open up again, we are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to gather together safely. In May, we were pleased to host two in-person Commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020. After more than a year apart, graduates came together to celebrate one another and their achievements with family and friends. Thanks to all who joined us for the festivities, and thank you to our many campus partners who made the celebrations a success.

Earlier this month we met with the CC Board of Trustees for an enriching and exciting retreat where we looked back at the past 50 years of the Block Plan and began to consider ideas regarding the next 50 years.

There is much activity on campus this summer, with three academic blocks, the Summer Music Festival, and more, and we are looking forward to our next academic year as a residential community under the leadership of President Richardson. It has been a pleasure getting to know her, and we invite you to join us in welcoming her to our Colorado College community.

We look forward to the coming year with excitement. In the meantime, we hope you are taking some time to relax and rejuvenate this summer. Take care, and stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Mike Edmonds
Acting Co-President

Robert G. Moore 
Acting Co-President

A special time and sentiment

Each year our Office of Communications captures Commencement on video, sharing a story of achievement, sometimes a bit of advice from the Commencement speaker, and occasionally moments of reflection from our graduates. This year’s videos — for our two Commencement ceremonies, for the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020 — share special moments from a special time. The Senior Sentiment video for the Class of 2021, filmed and edited by Bergen Hoff ’22 and produced by CC Video Producer Rachel San Luis ’10, tells the story of what senior life was like for these students during the time of COVID-19. Our graduates look back at an unusually quiet campus and talk about their experiences. And they share gratitude for the people who made their CC years meaningful.

“Hindsight is 2020”

On May 30th, members of the Class of 2020 returned to celebrate the end of their undergraduate studies.

There were so many hugs. Nearly 370 members of the Class of 2020 — including 11 Master of Arts in Teaching graduates — reunited on Sunday, May 30 at Weidner Field in downtown Colorado Springs for their long-awaited in-person Commencement ceremony. There were tears of joy. There were thrills to see classmates and faculty who had not seen one another since they were abruptly separated by the pandemic in March 2020. Proud families and friends shared in this beautiful and heartfelt Commencement that was at once a celebration of achievement, and a reunion.

The class motto, “Hindsight is 2020,” may have been chosen with a sense of humor last year, but the poignancy this year could not be missed. See more photos.

Welcoming Back and Celebrating the Class of 2020

We all love this time of year, when we see the joy on our graduates’ faces. This year, we get double the joy.

We will welcome back and honor the Class of 2020 today at an in-person Commencement ceremony at Weidner Field in downtown Colorado Springs. This class saw their senior year on campus cut short, as the COVID-19 pandemic locked down much of the world starting at spring break last year.

We did all we could to celebrate them last year, with online Honors Convocation, video-reel messages of congratulations from faculty, staff, and Colorado elected officials, and gift boxes with their diploma, a mortarboard, tassel, personal notes from academic departments, a letter from former President Jill Tiefenthaler, and gifts.

While they appreciated those gestures, they also told us loud and clear that they wanted an in-person Commencement, with all of the ceremony, when that was possible. Today, we will make good on that promise.

Richard Lariviere

Richard Lariviere, Ph.D. will be the Class of 2020 Commencement speaker. He is the former president and CEO of the Field Museum in Chicago. Before joining the Field Museum, Lariviere was president of the University of Oregon from July 2009  through November 2011. There, he cultivated the university’s growing reputation for innovation in the classroom and in research, sharpening the focus on sustainability and international partnerships.

The Class of 2020’s motto is “Hindsight is 2020.” This weekend they will look back and reminisce with classmates and faculty, and we will all look forward with them to a future without the perils of a pandemic, where they will bring their leadership, scholarship, creativity, and heart.

The blessings of Baccalaureate

Baccalaureate is a centuries-old graduation tradition that is held in Shove Memorial Chapel at Colorado College during Commencement Weekend. The Baccalaureate ceremony offers a quiet, intimate opportunity to reflect on the rite of passage that is graduation, hear faculty members share advice to the graduates, and enjoy students’ talents. This year seniors chose as their Baccalaureate speaker Nadia Guessous, assistant professor of Feminist & Gender Studies and Arabic & Islamic Studies. John Capers ’21 provided opening remarks, Lili Whittier ’21 sang, and Tianyi Bai ’21 introduced our speaker.

A beautiful tradition at CC is Baccalaureate blessings, hosted by the Chaplain’s Office. Family and friends send cards with hopeful and celebratory messages for our graduates, and these hang in the chapel entrance where graduates march in for the ceremony. This year, hundreds of these beautiful messages were sent virtually, from across the nation and across the world, in photos, writing, original art, videos, and more. They are truly a delight to experience.

We’re looking forward to seeing many of our 2020 graduates at their Commencement ceremony on Sunday.

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