“Success belongs to us because when it mattered most, we did it as a community,” class speaker Matthew Rivera ’20 said to fellow members of the Trinity College Class of 2020 during their long-awaited Commencement, held more than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted their senior year.
About 350 alumni from the Class of 2020 returned to the Main Quadrangle on Saturday, June 11, for the celebration of their graduation during Reunion Weekend 2022. While members of the Class of 2020 already received their diplomas by mail after being honored via a virtual celebration in 2020, a total of 537 degree recipients—not all of whom could attend in person—were recognized at the special ceremony, with 335 earning B.A. degrees, 187 earning B.S. degrees, and 15 earning M.A. degrees. Included among the undergraduate degree recipients were 13 Individualized Degree Program (IDP) students.
Rivera told his fellow alumni to think back to spring 2020, when students were sent home and classes were completed remotely. “We made our relationships with one another a priority and recognized that the only way to weather the storm that was in front of us was to do it together,” he said. A sociology major at Trinity, Rivera was the first in his family to attend and graduate from college. He serves as executive director of The Dream Support Network, through which he has worked with more than 40 Connecticut schools, delivered more than 100 speeches, and exchanged more than 40,000 “ice creams for dreams.” He also is pursuing a master of divinity degree at Yale Divinity School.
Actor and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Will McCormack ’96, who graduated from Trinity with a B.A. in English, also offered remarks. The recipient of a 2021 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for If Anything Happens I Love You (2020), which he co-wrote and co-directed, McCormack recalled feeling pure joy and connection after his first performance on stage at Trinity. “In a moment, I knew at age 19 that I would devote my life to storytelling. I didn’t know how, but I knew why. I believed stories mattered,” he said. “Trinity College nurtured and championed this passion for story. I did every single play I could. I worked at Cinestudio and saw every single film.”
McCormack came to Trinity in the footsteps of his sisters: Bridget Mary McCormack ’88, H’13, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, and actress Mary Catherine McCormack ’91. Will McCormack was among members of the Class of 1996 belatedly celebrating their 25th Trinity College Reunion on campus this year, after the pandemic delayed Reunion celebrations in 2021.
Trinity President Joanne Berger-Sweeney, in her charge to the class, reminded the graduates that they had much to celebrate, including the compassion shown by the Trinity community when students left campus in March 2020. “Staff cared for students who were unable to go home, and you, your families, and many alumni and others made donations to the Student Emergency and Equity Fund to ensure that all of our students had whatever they needed to complete their Trinity educational experience,” she said. Berger-Sweeney also mentioned that the class received personal notes of encouragement from members of the Class of 1980.
The ceremonial conferring of degrees began by recognizing the achievements of the class’s valedictorian and salutatorian. Alexandra M. Sinson, of Wisconsin, who earned a B.S., summa cum laude, with honors in engineering and with a second major in environmental science, was the class valedictorian. Tarek Abdallah, of Germany, who earned a B.S., summa cum laude, in economics, was the class salutatorian.
Honorary degree recipients for 2020, celebrated during Commencement 2021, included the first four women to receive undergraduate degrees from Trinity: Professor of Theater and Dance, Emerita, Judy Dworin ’70; Elizabeth Martin Gallo ’70; Judith Odlum Pomeroy ’70; and Roberta Russell ’70 (posthumously). Additional honorands were Francisco L. Borges ’74, chair and managing partner of Landmark Partners; the Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church; and James Hanley and Peter McMorris, co-founders of Cinestudio, the art house cinema on the Trinity campus.
For videos, photos, and more, visit https://www.trincoll.edu/commencement/class-of-2020-commencement-celebration/
ACCOLADES (RECOGNIZED DURING 2021 COMMENCEMENT)
Trustee Award for Faculty Excellence: Professor of Physics and Environmental Science Christoph E. Geiss, Principal Lecturer and Laboratory Coordinator in the Environmental Science Program Jonathan R. Gourley
Trustee Award for Staff Excellence: Then-Director of Campus Safety Brian Heavren
Trustee Award for Student Excellence: Rahuljeet Chadha ’20, Hamna Tariq ’20
The Thomas Church Brownell Prize for Teaching Excellence: Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of History Cheryl L. Greenberg
The Dean Arthur H. Hughes Award for Achievement in Teaching: Assistant Professor of Psychology Michael Grubb
PHOTOS: NICK CAITO