Three BCC Classes Graduate at Joint CommencementBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
09:40PM / Friday, June 03, 2022 | |
 Berkshire Community College graduates were presented their diplomas by President Ellen Kennedy on the stage at Tanglewood. |
Valedictorians Denise Foss, left, and Ethan Trautman wait to give their addresses representing the classes of 2020 and 2022. See more photos here.
LENOX, Mass. — Berkshire Community College's classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022 moved their tassels to the left side of their graduation caps at Tanglewood on Friday.
The long-awaited in-person event came after two years of virtual commencements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was the first graduation ceremony to return to Tanglewood after three years.
President Ellen Kennedy spoke of the circumstances that lead to the joint ceremony and emphasized the classes' resilience.
"These years have been complex and you have faced this complexity with resolve and determination, you have lost opportunities, loved ones, time, and jobs, but you have found ways to learn, grow, identify new ways to think, persist, like and love," she said to the graduates on a moderate 75-degree afternoon under the Koussevitzky Music Shed.
"You have surprised yourselves by your willingness to accept the challenges and grow from them, to adapt to Zoom, masking and social distancing, some of you were on campus learning when very few others were, you supported each other and refused to give up, you found ways to meet the needs of your families, friends, work and commitments, and also to be successful students and now graduates."
The college conferred 186 associate degrees and 92 certificates to 246 students. The graduates came from 41 programs of study with 24 receiving more than one degree or certificate.
Kennedy added that the students held it together "in a world that sometimes seems to be coming apart when we are struggling to make sense of the senseless deaths and destruction."
The 2022 valedictorian Ethan Trautman is the youngest in the college's history and began his BCC journey at the age of 15 as a dual enrollment student from his high school.
Trautman wanted attendees of the joint commencement to remember how remarkable graduates of the institution are.
"The traditional path for college instilled into every child of my generation is that at 18, college is for those who tested well in school and have the financial resources to pay, that leaves the rest of us, those told that we cannot strive to earn a college degree without indebting ourselves for a lifetime," He explained.
"For this reason, so many brilliant young men and women have not taken the chance to achieve in a college environment, I am proud that every person in a gown today took their education into their own hands."
Almost every congratulation that Trautman has recently received on his achievements has left him bittersweet, he said, because they were about how amazing it is to have gotten so far despite the impact of COVID-19.
The young valedictorian has seen his classmates navigate a multitude of other obstacles.
"The reality, however, is that my fellow graduates have already conquered so many challenges in their lives," he explained.
"From my perspective, this proves that a pandemic could not stop the fortitude of our collegiate community, I have met single mothers, people recovering from substance abuse, and many struggling financially in my years on this campus however, each of those people that I have met has worked tirelessly to earn this college degree or certificate, it is never too late to try."
The 2020 valedictorian, Denise Foss, never imagined she would get to this day. She began her journey for a college degree at the age of 52 and while filling out the admissions application said to herself "Denise, you have literally lost your mind."
This was far from the case, as she went on excel as one of the first graduates from BCC's Early Childhood Education cohort.
"Luckily for me, BCC welcomes traditional and nontraditional students with open arms," Foss explained.
"My academic journey through BCC has been rewarding and challenging in equal measure, making the commitment to obtaining my college degree was the first step but convincing myself I could do it was the next."
She added that her experience at the college allowed her to move forward in life, build confidence, and acquire a love for learning.
Foss was invited to be a keynote speaker at an education conference in Africa in 2019 and is continuing her education at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts studying interdisciplinary studies with a focus on children, families, and society.
She thanked her mother and father for their support and had her mother stand to be recognized. Her father was unable to be at the event but was there in spirit.
During the ceremony, Thomas Carey, professor of allied health, respiratory care, was recognized as professor emeritus of allied care, marking his retirement. He served BCC students for nearly 39 years.
"Tom's long career in teaching makes it easy to forget that, in addition to representing 'old school' in the best sense of the word, Tom was a committed an advocate of innovation," Kennedy said,
"For example, Tom was able to secure an Anatomage table, an interactive, life-size, virtual dissection workbench, for BCC's anatomy and physiology lab, making it possible to teach anatomy in completely new ways."
The "Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by Joseph Sicotte and the processional was played by the Berkshire Highlanders. For the recessional, the Gaia Roots Drum and Dance Ensemble joined and graduates and family members poured out on the Shed lawn for pictures and refreshments.
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