Students in Ithaca College’s undergraduate Class of 2024 began their college experience on a screen instead of in a classroom, learning virtually during Fall 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the Ithaca College community gathered May 19 in the Glazer Arena to celebrate the graduating students’ resilience and watch as administrators presented the students with their degrees during the college’s 129th Commencement ceremony.  

Following the same format as the 2023 commencement ceremonies, the college recognized students graduating with master’s or doctoral degrees in a commencement and graduate hooding ceremony May 18 and honored all undergraduate students in a commencement ceremony May 19.

Safety Procedures

Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, and Bonnie Prunty, outgoing vice president of Student Affairs and Campus Life, sent an email to the campus community May 13 that explained safety procedures for the commencement ceremonies.

The email said all attendees, including graduates and people involved in the ceremony, were required to show a ticket, MarchingOrder GradPass or other credentials to enter the Athletics & Events (A&E) Center and pass through a security screening. Prunty said in an email to The Ithacan that the college bought a new weapons detection system and started using it during Fall 2023 home football games. The Office of Public Safety used the weapons detection system to screen all individuals entering the A&E Center.

The email also listed items that were prohibited from commencement venues, including noisemakers, signs, backpacks or large bags, weapons, flags and banners, and it also said individuals who violate the Ithaca College Student Conduct Code or Rules for the Maintenance of Public Order may receive punishment or legal action.

“As we all watch the national news regarding protests on college campuses, and at recent graduation ceremonies, we remain committed to providing a respectful and celebratory Commencement free of disruptions for our graduates and their guests,” Prunty said via email.

Ceremony

John Neeson ’84, chair of the Board of Trustees, opened the ceremony by commending Class of 2024 graduates for their perseverance.

“You have endured the unprecedented challenge of a global pandemic,” Neeson said. “You stand before us ready and able to graduate at the top of the world.”

Neeson said his diverse range of opportunities and experiences at the college prepared him to enter the world. He encouraged the graduates to lean into their experiences as they embark on their next journeys and always remember that they have a second home at the college.

President La Jerne Cornish encouraged the Class of 2024 to recognize their shared identity as graduates of the college and celebrate the different opportunities, from athletics to work experience to academic honor societies, that have shaped them and are reflected through their unique graduation attire.

“The gowns, caps and tassels that you all wear unite you and reflect not just pageantry, but pride and purpose,” Cornish said. “The original cords, stoles and pins … [show] who you are or who you have become. … Although they differentiate you in some ways, they also celebrate one thing every graduate shares: the uniqueness of your story and your willingness to build upon it.”

Cornish said members of the Class of 2024 have shown great strength through challenges that they encountered, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. Cornish acknowledged that many graduates had socially distanced or modified high school graduation ceremonies or did not have graduation ceremonies at all when they finished high school during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“The very fact that you are sitting here today is proof of your resilience,” Cornish said. “You have served as models for our community by demonstrating compassion, grace, and persistence. You have endured much and you have excelled greatly.”

Each graduate of the college since 1992 has received a medallion with a quote inscribed on it. Cornish shared that she chose a quote from poet Amanda Gorman for this year’s medallion: “There is always a light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” Cornish said she believes Gorman’s quote reflects the Class of 2024’s persistence and fortitude.

Cornish presented the presidential medal, an award created in 2019 to recognize an individual or group who has shown great service to the college community, to Nicholas Carl Moore ’80. Moore was involved in the Afro-Latin Society, Kuumba Repertory Theater Group, Amani Singers Gospel Choir, Building a Better Brotherhood and basketball while he was a student at the college and created the mural in the ALS room in West Tower.

Moore has worked as chief legislative assistant for a New York State senator, an affirmative action officer for New York’s Department of Labor, the founder of an outreach group to serve unhoused people and victims of domestic violence and a partner and founder of sports marketing and development firms. He now serves as chief executive officer of Soteria Holdings, a business development consulting group that advises on sustainable systems and affordable housing projects in Uganda and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Cornish also recognized 23 faculty members who earned tenure during the academic year before she introduced the keynote speaker, Jason DeLand ’98.

DeLand founded the global advertising agency Anomaly and has worked on marketing accounts for companies including Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Major League Baseball and Disney Parks and Resorts. DeLand worked with the college’s marketing and creative teams and advised the college’s athletic department about developing a new visual branding. He received the Ithaca College Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award in 2017.

DeLand said most of his life traces back to South Hill where he met his wife, dreamed of opening his business and determined who he wanted to be during his time at the college. He said the graduates have encountered crises, uncertainty and division within the last four years — all of which have shaped them into who they are.

“The struggles that you’ve endured, the setbacks, are extrinsically challenging but … are intrinsically rewarding,” DeLand said. “I promise you that after today, that resilience will come in very handy. You see … adult life has a savage way of continually testing and retesting one’s resilience.”

DeLand said the graduates have a powerful calling to solve today’s problems, develop ideas and work that will define their time and make the most of future opportunities. The graduates’ hope, energy and optimism, combined with the lessons they have learned at the college, give them great potential to impact the world, DeLand stated.

DeLand encouraged the graduates to venture outside of comfortable and familiar settings and take advantage of their freedom to learn and grow. Overall, he said, graduates should never give up and keep striving toward their goals.

“What do you want to look back on?” DeLand asked. “What kind of life do you want to create, and how do you want to live?”

Graduating senior Mikayla Tolliver, a writing major, gave the student address. She invited the ceremony attendees to envision themselves as writers and think about how they shape their own life stories.

“A writer is someone who keeps moving forward, flipping pages and staying curious about what happens next,” Tolliver said. “We’re a group whose story could have easily been written for us. … Instead, I want to commend those who stand in front of me for writing a new story: the perseverance of the Class of 2024.”

Tolliver said that as she grew more involved and became a leader on campus in groups like Buzzsaw Magazine, the Admission Host Committee and the BOLD scholar program, where she gained her voice and became a storyteller. She encouraged her classmates to hold on to things that they are passionate about and work through challenges to hold control over their own stories.

“I hope you keep writing your story and you never let anyone tell it for you,” Tolliver said. “I can’t wait to see where your story goes next.”