![\"Graduates](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2022\/files\/2022\/09\/Graduation-22-336.jpg\")
\n\u201cAim for building bridges instead of creating chasms,\u201d said painter and poet Raja Changez Sultan \u201972 to the graduates of the Trinity College Class of 2022 during his Commencement address on Sunday, May 22. \u201cThe diversity that you find around the globe is our collective strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
A crowd gathered on the Main Quadrangle witnessed more than 520 students receive their degrees. Among the undergraduates, 320 received B.A. degrees, and 188 were awarded B.S. degrees. Six of the undergraduate degree recipients were Individualized Degree Program (IDP) students. In addition, 14 graduate students received M.A. degrees.<\/p>\n
Sultan, an internationally renowned artist from Pakistan, received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree in recognition of his distinguished career and his devotion to a more just society for his home country and for the world. Speaking remotely, he offered advice to the graduates before reading an excerpt from one of his poems.<\/p>\n Sultan implored the Class of 2022 to strive for a balance between power and wisdom and to shun shortcuts. \u201cSuccess has always come through dedication, hard work, and commitment,\u201d he added. \u201cMay your journey be long and purposeful, and may each of you leave an indelible mark on the sands of time.\u201d<\/p>\n Honorary degrees also were presented to Lloyd Alexander Lewis Jr. \u201969, the first African American from Alexandria, Virginia, to be ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, and Cornelia Parsons Thornburgh \u201980, the first female chair of the Trinity College Board of Trustees.<\/p>\n Renita Washington \u201922, selected as the student speaker, noted the ways in which she and her classmates persevered during challenging times. \u201cIn the spring of our sophomore year, we were all hit hard by a global pandemic and conversations about racial inequity,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were all affected. But if I do say so myself, we persisted.\u201d<\/p>\n In her charge to the graduates, Trinity President Joanne Berger-Sweeney encouraged the members of the Class of 2022 to use their voices and their education to empower others. \u201cThat is the essence of education,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just how you use education to make life better for yourself but how you will use it to make life better for others. This idea explains why we say that education is a public good: it\u2019s not simply what job you get; it\u2019s how society will be better because you got your education.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel Jacob Nesbitt, of Ohio, who earned a B.S., summa cum laude, in public policy and law and with honors in chemistry, was named valedictorian; Nayantara Ghosh, of India, who earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in political science and urban studies, in addition to a minor in religious studies, was named salutatorian.<\/p>\n Following the awarding of degrees, then-Trinity College Alumni Association President Jamie Tracey Szal \u201906 welcomed the graduates into the community of Trinity alumni. \u201cYou may be departing campus, but you always will be among family,\u201d Szal said. \u201cWherever you land, the alumni\u201430,000 strong\u2014are there: ready, waiting, and eager to support you as you go out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2022\/files\/2022\/09\/Cornie-commencement.jpg\")
![\"Renita](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2022\/files\/2022\/09\/Renita-Washington-220522_Commencement_006.jpg\")
![\"salutatorian](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2022\/files\/2022\/09\/220522_Commencement_197.jpg\")
![\"Celebrating](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2022\/files\/2022\/09\/Graduation-22-54.jpg\")