On May 25, Bowdoin College seniors gathered in caps and gowns on the central green space on campus. Faculty, parents and friends congregated around the class of 2024 — standing in the shade, seated in chairs or sprawled out on picnic blankets — and cheered on students as they crossed the stage.
The ceremony marked the 219th commencement ceremony at the college, though it was likely the first formal graduation for many of the seniors who left high school during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Every graduation is special, but I think this graduation is particularly so,” said President Safa Zaki, who was also speaking at a Bowdoin Commencement for the first time since she started working at the school. “You are the Bowdoin Class of 2024, but most of you are also from the high school Class of 2020.”
As is tradition at the school, commencement speakers featured graduating students Dylan Richmond and Colleen Doucette, class of 1868 and Goodwin Commencement Prize Winners, respectively.
Richmond delivered his address in the form of a poem, “White Pines,” describing the process of navigating a new life at Bowdoin College.
Doucette referenced the late poet Audre Lorde, alluding to the senior’s time navigating COVID.
“The Class of 2024 had been placed into a fearful unknown,” she said, “And in response, we were poets. We laid the foundation for a space we had never been in, for experiences we had yet to embark on. We created the skeleton architecture of our Bowdoin.”
Full text of speeches can be found at Bowdoin College’s website, bowdoin.edu/news.
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