May 13, 2025
President Robert W. Iuliano
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
As Delivered.
Greetings and Opening Address
Welcome families, friends, colleagues, and guests—and especially, the senior members of our softball team, women’s lacrosse team, and men’s lacrosse team.
This is the first time in my six years at the College that we’ve had not one, not two, but three spring teams at our Special Commencement ceremony.
Congratulations to the men’s lacrosse team on two stirring wins this weekend—though I was getting a little worried for a moment or two during the second half of yesterday’s game!
To the women’s lacrosse team for protecting our turf with a close-fought and well-earned win.
And to the softball team for advancing to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.
All of this builds on a remarkably successful year for the Bullets across all three seasons—fall, winter, and spring!
Please join me in congratulating these incredible student-athletes for what they’ve accomplished and for the grace and sportsmanship with which they represent the College every day.
Today, we are here to honor 25 students who are graduating from Gettysburg College.
I would like to begin our ceremony by celebrating each and every one of the seniors in this graduating class. As I call your name, please stand and give us a wave, so we can recognize you.
Families and friends, I want the rest of campus to hear you, just as we hear you from the stands during a game. Here we go!
Our softball team: Alyna Balewitz, Paige Forry, Carlie Goldstein, Jordan Pansy, Audrey Wright, Elliana Hopple, and Lauren O’Leary.
Now, our women’s lacrosse team: Emily Crane, Juliette Devarenne, Samantha Kole, Lily Macatee, Lauren O’Connell, Sophie Smith, Isabel Chiperfield, and Marygrace Dellisanti.
Lastly, our men’s lacrosse team: Frank Barbera, Thomas Ciccarone, Charles Crean, John Dunleavy Jr., Alexander Ipeker, Nicholas Jones, Jake McLoy, Stokes Myers, George Sophocles, and Andrew Marquet.
Let’s hear it for our Class of 2025 graduates!
They, of course, are led by three outstanding head coaches, six talented assistant coaches, and a team of dedicated athletic trainers and equipment managers by their side.
Will you please join me in giving them a big round of applause as well for all they do for our student-athletes? Thank you!
Special Commencement is always one of my favorite traditions of the year. Not only because it gives us the opportunity to celebrate all that you have accomplished during your time on campus, but perhaps even more so, because it gives those in attendance the opportunity to witness firsthand what has made your teams so successful.
The way you celebrate one another. The way you uplift one another. The way you support and care for one another, as friends and as teammates. We all just saw this on vivid display, and it is inspiring.
Today, I want to pose a question to you—one that I will ask of your classmates at our Commencement ceremony on Saturday. It is a question that I hope you will reflect on this week, but even more so, throughout your lives and careers.
The question is simply this: How did I end up here?
Adorned in a cap and gown—a graduate of one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country.
I suspect you are not the same person you were when you first arrived at Gettysburg College. I’d go so far as to guess you’re not even the person you expected to be on your graduation day either.
Maybe you discovered a new passion and switched your major. Or, maybe you studied abroad and it opened up a new world to you. Or, maybe you have come to know yourself a little better and what once seemed beyond your grasp is now within reach.
The truth is, we never become the person we expected to be. If we’re open to it, we grow into something more.
This has certainly proven true of Saturday’s Commencement speaker.
Forty-two years ago, Carol Daly Cantele was sitting in your seat, a new graduate from Gettysburg, Class of ’83—her life before her. She could only have dreamed of all she would accomplish, reaching the pinnacle of her career with several national championships, an induction into the lacrosse hall of fame, and, most importantly, generations of Gettysburgians whose lives she touched for the better—like Coach Hibbard and perhaps even some of you.
I’m sure of this: Coach Cantele’s path was not without its bumps and detours. She had good days and bad, triumphs and setbacks. Along the way, she had a choice—a choice she reinforced with her players from the sidelines during her many years at Clark Field: whether to yield to those forces or to double down on one’s resolve.
I have little doubt how you will respond to that choice, given all you have done here. And I have little doubt in part because you, like Coach Cantele, are armed with the invaluable gift of a vibrant and demanding education that will prepare you for most everything the world will throw at you.
In saying this, I recognize that the value and the values of higher education are being questioned today in ways that are unprecedented in our country’s long history. Although I find these attacks deeply concerning, the reasons and causes for them are beyond what we can or should explore in today’s setting.
But, as I look out over these 25 extraordinary graduates, I see in very tangible ways the equally remarkable impact of the education you have received.
I see it in the ways in which you have grown in confidence and found your voice.
I see it in the grace, respect, and dignity with which you treat each other, recognizing that you are stronger as a team precisely because you come from varied backgrounds, experiences, perspectives.
I see it in how each of you has helped foster a community dedicated to the understanding that the search for truth requires open inquiry and that respectful disagreement is an essential part of that search.
I see it in the richness and depth with which you now comprehend the world and yourselves, informed by an education that has asked you hard questions and equipped you with the tools and temperament to answer them—based on discernment, evidence, reason, and judgment.
And I see it in how you have embraced the sacred history of the land on which we congregate today. In how you are ready to advance Lincoln’s “unfinished work”—to make a difference in a world that needs your belief in a better and more just future.
And, so, graduates, when I am asked to comment on the value and the values of higher education; on our commitment to a community that honors the worth and dignity of every person; on our belief that the search for truth matters, and matters profoundly—I point to you, our students.
Class of 2025, let me conclude by returning to our central question: How did I end up here?
When you all return for your 50th reunion in 2075, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to reconnect with your teammates.
I hope you find yourself once again asking: How did I end up here?
And, more importantly, I hope you find yourself answering that question with same sense of pride, amazement, and gratitude that you feel today.
We never become the person we expected to be. If we’re open to it, we grow into something more.
You have done precisely that.
Once again, my heartiest congratulations on this important milestone in your life. Good luck in your upcoming games, though regardless of the results you have made this entire campus proud. And I look forward to all that’s ahead for you in your next great adventure.
Congratulations!
The Charge
It is now my honor to deliver the charge to the Class of 2025.
As is true for every generation, you are graduating into a world filled with challenges and opportunities.
You have spent the most formative years of your life not just at any college, but a college whose history and location compels us to honor the sacrifices of those who came before us.
As you prepare to step out into the world as Gettysburg College graduates, I invite you to ask yourself once more, “How did I end up here?”
Professor Cushing-Daniels’ comments today underscore that you are uniquely equipped to contribute to your families, your workplaces, and your communities. That “you are worthy.”
So, my charge to you is simply this: Lead with purpose.
You are here for this moment.
You are here to make a difference.
You are here to be the change our world needs.
Class of 2025, we believe in you.
At this time, I would ask our graduates to please stand.
Graduates, our entire campus will be cheering for you this week. You have represented the Orange and Blue with pride and integrity.
On behalf of all of us here at Gettysburg College, I offer you our very best wishes.
Families, friends, and guests, it is now my privilege to present our Gettysburg College graduates of the Class of 2025!
Congratulations—and Do Great Work!