Burlington College Celebrates 27th Baccalaureate Commencement Ceremony

BURLINGTON, Vt., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, May 17th, 2008 Burlington College celebrated its 27th Baccalaureate Commencement Ceremony with the unique artistic character and style that has come to represent Burlington College. Sambatucada, an afro-Brazilian drum band of over twenty members, led the processional of students, faculty, staff and Trustees into the First Universalist Unitarian Society's meetinghouse at Pearl Street, Burlington.

Friends and families were there to support and celebrate the recipients of the 6 certificates, 3 Associate of Arts Degrees and 37 Bachelor of Arts Degrees. Two student speakers represented their fellow classmates. Meadow S. Osmun, an Independent Degree Graduate, spoke about the search to find and be yourself as part of the journey toward self actuation. She said "And maybe I didn't exactly 'find myself' ... I am not sure I know, exactly, what it means to find myself but I did find the process and the environment that worked for me." The Campus Student Speaker, Barry Wyman, spoke about the importance of seeing the sum of all the parts; the personal struggles, joy, academic experiences, soul journey, and many other defining forces that contribute to the might of each and everyone's potential. He compared this totality into an elephant, and each part is but pieces of the same beast. He said, "We, in realizing the world that is larger than college, we will continue to see the elephant ... We in our deeper self awareness will have new responsibilities as adults." Wyman majored in Human Services.

The Graduation Speaker was George Burrill, founder of ARD, Inc. He served as the firm's Chief Executive Officer since its inception in 1977 through 2007. Under his guidance, ARD has established a well-developed international portfolio of legal and institutional reform projects. His overseas focus was the design, monitoring and evaluation of the firm's legislative and institutional reform activities, including governance, rule of law, parliamentary reform and democratic enhancement projects. With a Ph.D. in political science and a solid grounding in government, Dr. Burrill has 35 years of experience in institutional development and management. Dr. Burrill also served as Chairman of the Washington, D.C. - based Business Alliance for International Economic Development, of which he was the founding member. The Alliance's mission was to inform the American public, elected officials and the wider business community on matters concerning foreign aid. And last, but certainly not least, Dr. Burrill was Burlington College's first Academic Dean.

Burlington College students chose Sandy Baird as Faculty member of the year. Baird is the Director of International Studies and Civic Engagement. In addition to teaching, she also oversees the Paralegal Program and offers a free legal clinic to the community every Saturday at the College.

Contact:
Maria Delia Zamora-Crosby
Communications Director
Burlington College
802-862-9616

Source: Burlington College

CONTACT: Maria Delia Zamora-Crosby, Communications Director of
Burlington College, +1-802-862-9616

Web site: http://www.burlington.edu/

2008-05-17 22:58:52 0364476 PRNEWSWIRE