Baccalaureate Mass
Baccalaureate Mass takes place the day before Commencement in the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex. The center remains prepped in case of inclement weather the next day.
A Look at Commencement Through the Years
On Sunday, May 22, more than 560 Stonehill students processed down the Donahue steps onto the Quad, marking the College's 71st Commencement. Throughout the years, this special occasion has grown and evolved—moving from a gym to a tent to a canopy as well as surviving a legendary hailstorm. It has even seen a helicopter land on campus, not once but twice. Here, we take a look at a few Commencement highlights.
-
First Class
Held in the Ames Gym (now Alumni Hall), the all-male Class of 1952 graduated on Sunday, June 1 at 3 p.m.
-
Keepsake
Since 1952, a Commencement program has been given out at every graduation.
-
All Clear for Landing
A helicopter was used twice for transporting keynote speakers to campus: in 1961, for Massachusetts Governor John Volpe, and in 1984, for U.S. House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill Jr. [above].
-
Covered in Stripes
In 1983, the College moved from using a tent to a blue and white canopy. The canopy was updated to purple and white in 2011.
-
Weeklong Activities
The week of Commencement is loaded with social activities, as shown on this flyer from 1983. Some years ago, seniors started spending the week on Cape Cod, which they still do today.
-
Rain, Rain Go Away
In 1985, forty-five minutes into Commencement, a thunderstorm forced the ceremony to stop and reconvene at noon in the Merkert Gymnasium.
Just on a personal note to begin with—in reading and listening to the Epistles from St. Paul in recent years, I was curious, as I have been so often, in hearing St. Paul's Epistles. My unanswered question remains: Did the Corinthians ever write back...?
-
Handwritten Diplomas
1999 was the last year that Stonehill hired a calligrapher to inscribe a student's diploma with Latin honors. Computers and printers took over the job.
-
Senior Pin
The tradition of wearing the senior pin on a graduate's robe at Commencement started with the Class of 1997. Here a 2014 grad wears a class pin along with a Skyhawk pin.
-
Beloved Tradition
Students line up in pairs behind Donahue to prepare for the procession, a tradition that began in the early ’60s. With the establishment of the May School of Arts and Sciences and the Meehan School of Business, students now process behind their school's banner.
The road you follow in your post-Stonehill life may have more than a few twists and turns—and perhaps even a detour or two. I speak from experience: In the decade after I graduated, I went from being a newspaper reporter in Brockton, to getting a graduate degree in public health, to working on health reform in Washington, D.C., to staffing a U.S. AID project in Egypt, then finally going to medical school. I was the living embodiment of the famous quote attributed to Yogi Berra, baseball hall-of-famer and master of unintentional humor: 'When you come to a fork in the road, take it!'
-
Unity Celebration
The annual Unity Celebration honors seniors’ achievements by gifting stoles, pins, and tassels to students of color, as well as first-generation and LGBTQ+ students.
-
Hegarty Leads the Way
The faculty member who received the Hegarty Award for Excellence in Teaching at Convocation, at the start of the academic year, leads the procession. [Professor Timothy Woodcock ’93 led the 2019 Commencement procession.]
-
Fun Facts
In 1957, John "Jack" Haley, best known as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, received an honorary doctor of laws degree. [Seen above in the summer/fall 2012 issue of the Stonehill Alumni Magazine.] Bob Keeshan, star of the long-running children's television series Captain Kangaroo, received an honorary doctor of arts degree in 1986.
Commencement 2022
Stonehill's 71st Commencement was held on Sunday, May 22.