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Dean President Kenneth Elmore, coming up on his one-year anniversary as President, put his stamp on every aspect of the school's 157th commencement. From the presence of invitee, Rep. Jeff Roy, who said he had never previously been invited to attend, to the three recipients of honorary degrees -- a first for Dean -- and the enthusiasm of many students, even with some unexpected changes in personnel, beaming Ken Elmore was on the top of his game.
starting just after 11 am, with a flurry of parents and guests still trying to find their places, a column of faculty and staff led the processional to the platform in from of Dean Hall, with Elmore bringing up the rear.
Enrico Hernandez ’23 was the student commencement speaker. A Sport Management major, Enrico transferred to Dean from Cerritos College in Norwalk, CA, where he earned an associate degree in Kinesiology with honors. While at Dean, Enrico became actively involved in a number of campus activities and athletics organizations, including holding positions as a community advisor, a member of the Student-Athlete Athletics Committee and a member of the football team. He was named to the 2021 and 2022 Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) All-Academic Teams, the President’s List for Fall 2021 and the Dean’s List for Spring 2022 and Fall 2022. Additionally, Enrico is also a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year college students that he joined while at Cerritos College, and Chi Alpha Sigma, the national honor society for college student-athletes who excel both on and off the field.
In his remarks, he asked for the indulgence of his audience, as he switched to Spanish for a moment to greeted his extended family, in Guadalajara, Mexico, watching the ceremony on line. Hernandez spoke glowingly of his time at Dean and hailed president Elmore for his “charisma.”
Elmore honored two faculty member, David Dennis, Humanities Program Coordinator and Gregg Seibert - Assistant Professor of Video Production, for their joint work in supporting student public history projects which have led to the History in Your Backyard series, now hosted at the New England Journal of History.
President Elmore then presented honorary degrees for the first time at Dean, to three recipients, award-winning broadcast journalist Andrea Kremer, former Mayor of Boston and former United States Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, and award-winning actress Rutina Wesley.
The College’s Board of Trustees authorized the awarding of honorary degrees, a distinction reserved for people who bring honor to Dean College. In a previous announcement, Elmore said these honorees are people of integrity and character, with outstanding and sustained achievements in the arts, business, entrepreneurialism, government, media, humanitarianism and public service. Their significant, meritorious achievements reflect the core values and Mission of Dean College.
After presentation of the degrees to each recipient, Kremer then spoke “for all three of us,” about her life and career experiences and some of the lesson it offered.
She said when she was coming out of college, “the possibility of me doing what I'm doing right now and have been doing for close to 40 years was unthinkable, it was unimaginable
She said she had danced ballet, with several companies throughout high school and college and later, after spending time in law school, decided to try it professionally.
In law school, “I knew what I didn't want. Now, it was about finding what I did want,” she said.
Later, she started doing some freelance writing for a newspaper in suburban Philadelphia, initially covering dance and theater “because that's when I knew.”
“But I made sure to tell the managing editor that I loved sports. So, every now and then they throw her a sports story and “after about six months, I was offered the job as sports editor; but the managing editor was very clear, it was a 24/7 job, no more dancing.”
“I've never looked back. Some doors started to open, and I kicked the rest of them down,” she said.
