Commencement 2011: Grads celebrate diverse pasts at General Studies Class Day

The newest graduates of the School of General Studies brushed off the winds and intermittent downpours at their Class Day on Monday—with many of their speakers focusing on the bigger challenges they had already overcome.

Roger Leeds, GS ’66 and a professor at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia, gave the Class Day address and called his own time at GS a “second chance.”

“My GS education was the essential catalyst for just about everything else that followed in my life,” Leeds said. As the rain pelted the tents until his words were barely audible, he joked, “I hope it’s a good sign.”

Dean Peter J. Awn of the School of General Studies began the ceremony by congratulating the graduates and highlighting the importance of GS as an institution, saying that the creation of GS “was a milestone in undergraduate education,” and had continuing relevance today.

“Members of the class of 2011, you represent the cutting edge of undergraduate education,” Awn said.

Awn also celebrated the fact that 22 veterans were among those graduating.

“You represent so much of what we value here,” University President Lee Bollinger told the graduates in his brief remarks, citing the determination and courage of many GS graduates who had overcome obstacles in order to return to school.

Elliot Shackelford, the class salutatorian and a former concert pianist who is now headed to law school, spoke of the unity among GS students despite their diverse backgrounds and former careers.

“Many of us here know what failure feels like, and yet not a single one of us knows what it feels like to give up,” Shackelford said. “All of you know what success looks like, because it looked back at you from the mirror this morning, and is sitting on either side of you right now.”

Kira Boesch, recipient of the psychology department’s Jennifer A. Pack Prize and class valedictorian, described in her speech how GS allows for students to embrace both their unique pasts and the student life.

“I reveled in the fact that GS students accepted the complexity of themselves and one another,” Boesch said, describing the relief the embracing environment provided her after a childhood spent divided between the “two separate universes” of New York City public schools and professional ballet.

“We can appreciate there is no timeline and no blueprint for achievement,” Boesch said.

For graduate Debra Moore, those words represented a reality.

“Obviously, for a lot of us, it’s the culmination of a lot of work and struggling,” Moore said of the ceremony.

“It’s been a long time coming for myself. Personally, it’s been 10 years since I graduated from high school,” Moore added.

“There was a lot of humor, especially with the rain, and everyone had a good sense of humor about it. ... I’m just excited and elated and ready to get started with the next chapter of my life.”

emily.neil@columbiaspectator.com