Graduating seniors smile during the Westmont College commencement ceremony on Saturday.
On Saturday, the Westmont College graduation ceremony kicked-off at 9 a.m. with music from the Westmont Orchestra led by Dr. Micahel Shasberger, who gave the commencement address to this year’s 267 graduates.
The ceremony took place on Westmont’s Thorrington Field.
Dr. Shasberger is retiring as Westmont’s inaugural professor of worship and music.
In addition to the graduates, 117 Golden Warriors who graduated in 1970, 1971 or 1972 marched in the procession to celebrate their 50th reunions.
Dr. Shasberger’s speech highlighted and paid homage to some of his former teachers that impacted his life, as he highlighted the lessons he learned from them. Dr. Shasberger similarly encouraged the graduates to reflect on their educators and find similar gifts and lessons.
“We may as well have been playing at Carnegie Hall, our best was the only acceptable effort and that took concentration, practice and discipline. I’m not sure I fully received that gift at that time and I may still be working on it. But I can see where it deeply was nurtured in rehearsals,” said Dr. Shasberger of one of his former teachers.
Optimism was another gift Dr. Shasberger addressed, saying “Our potential as children of God was and is amazing. As is yours. So why be anything less than optimistic?”
Dr. Shasberger also talked about what he learned about the importance of asking questions and challenging yourself.
“At some point, if not already, you’ll discover you can’t always find a perfect answer to your questions and the more you challenge yourself beyond your current reach, the more you will learn or accomplish,” he said.
“Setting the bar higher does not lead to more failure, but rather to greater achievement in discovery and even when we don’t get all the way there, we progress towards the goals we set,” and Dr. Shasberger. “Dig deeper and enjoy the digging, even though it sometimes feels like you are creating a hopeless hole … The point was not to find the answers but to discover that we could not find the answers and still make informed decisions to theorize and possibly come closer to an answer than before. But to keep in mind that a better answer might be in the offing, so to keep digging.”
Dr. Shasberger closed his speech with the following charge: “You have been equipped already by my very good colleagues here to find such qualities in yourself. I hope that in doing so you will encourage others, for we are called to build each other up, to teach by example and to share the gifts that we have been given … I trust that you will continue to seek new gifts, even as you embark on rich lives of sharing the gifts you have received along your journey … I’ll suggest that your greatest and most fulfilling happiness will likely be attained when you discover how to give what you most value away.”
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
