Commencement Offers Promise of Joy Everywhere

The gray skies and light drizzle were no match for the warm hearts and sunny disposition of the 320 members of Westmont’s class of 2024 and their loved ones. The ceremony, replete with prayer and songs of thanksgiving, offered a stark contrast to other college graduations across the country that have been canceled or marred by violent protests over the Israel-Hamas war. 

Graduating senior Eden Lawson encouraged his fellow graduates to buck the norms, choose an alternative path and live unexpectedly. “2024 is going to be an interesting year,” he said. “We’re launching out in a culture asking who can shout louder, and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to whisper. We’ve learned countless perspectives and frameworks to prove to the world, but I think the most important thing we learned is that nothing suffices for having conversations with those who are different than us. Live unexpectedly.”

Fellow senior Rebecca Li said her Westmont education stretched her more than she could have anticipated. “When we walk at His pace, we find that we have time to sabbath, to play, to inhale and exhale,” she said. “But if we rely on our might, our power, we miss out on witnessing the spirit break forth into the miraculous mundane.”

President Gayle D. Beebe presented the Westmont Medal to Palmer Jr. and Susan Jackson. Palmer encouraged the graduates to give back to their communities, as his family has beginning with his great grandfather, who moved to the area 100 years ago. Susan reflected on her connections to the college and joy in serving on the Westmont Foundation Board for more than a decade.

Rick Pointer, professor emeritus of history, asked the graduates what story they would tell of their time at Westmont – the story the Golden Warriors in attendance have been telling for 50 years since their graduation. “How we choose to remember and recite the defining or pivotal seasons or moments of our lives, goes a long way to shaping our sense of ourselves and the world,” he said. 

Pointer told a bit of his story, retiring after 26 years of teaching at Westmont during the pandemic and then suffering a long-term liver disease that required a life-saving transplant. “How I narrate that dramatic, traumatic period of my life, and the meaning I ascribe to it, are crucial elements in how I now think of myself and my place in this world, and even more broadly, how I view reality,” he said. 

He suggested the graduates consider the narrative of gratitude and grace. “It is a tale of an unfolding journey in which the pilgrim, you and I, discovered that grace is everywhere,” he said. “Each new day of one’s life, however many days that might be, comes to be seen and portrayed as a gift of grace. Nothing has been done to merit it. It simply comes as a good gift from the giver of life.”

Quoting from contemporary writer Brian Doyle, Pointer said, “Grace lives. It brings us to joy. And what, as we age, do we cherish more than joy? Pleasure, power, fame, lust, money? They eventually lose their fastballs, or should. At our best and our wisest, we just want joy. And when we’re filled with grace, we see rich, thick joy in the simplest of things. Joy everywhere.”

Edee Schulze, who retires this year as vice president for student life, presented the Dean’s Award to Logan Thompson and Anneline Breytenbach, given to the outstanding male and female graduates who have demonstrated excellence in the classroom, have made superior contributions to an intercollegiate athletic team, and have demonstrated a deep faith in Christ.

Zach Hauw won the Dave Dolan Award, which recognizes the outstanding graduate whose campus leadership has made significant contributions in our awareness and response to the social and spiritual needs of the community, the nation and the world.

Alex Armstrong and Eden Lawson won Kenneth Monroe Awards, given to the outstanding male and female graduates who have demonstrated superior academic achievement in the classroom, excelled as leaders on campus, and shaped other students’ lives through their integrity, character, and faithfulness.

Breytenback, Hauw, and Katherine Knapp were honored as First Seniors for achieving perfect 4.0 GPAs during their entire academic career at Westmont.

Provost Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu gave Teacher of the Year Awards to Anna Aboud (mathematics), Elizabeth Gardner (communication studies) and Jeff Schloss (biology).

Amanda Sparkman, professor of biology, earned the Faculty Research Award for her ongoing investigation of the evolution of dwarfism in Channel Islands National Park reptiles.

About 50 Golden Warriors, who graduated in 1974, marched in the procession to celebrate their 50th reunion.

In his charge, Beebe recalled how the graduates began their Westmont education in the thick of the COVID pandemic, which forced classes to be held online for the first month of the semester. “But your perseverance has paid off,” he said.

Beebe encouraged the graduating class to be aspirational and serve purposes greater than themselves, anchoring their lives to God. He emphasized the importance of strengthening spiritual and intellectual capacities to make a positive impact in the world. “My hope for you is that the challenges that have come to you, and the challenges that are sure to come in the years that lie ahead, will not destroy you, but will direct you to the purposes for which God has prepared and equipped you,” he said.