“Have Faith:” Vice President Mike Pence Encourages Graduates
An enthusiastic assembly of students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the College—what President Larry P. Arnn called “a large community of love”—filled the Biermann Athletic Center to capacity for Hillsdale’s 166th Commencement Exercises. They celebrated the achievements of the 366 members of the Class of 2018 and heard an inspiring message from Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence began his Commencement address by saying that he was honored to address the graduates of “this beacon of liberty and American ideals.” He praised the education offered at Hillsdale—an education that “has taught you not what to do, but what to be”—and described the diplomas being granted as “minted in independence and tempered with truth.”
“As you leave Hillsdale,” he told the graduates, “I encourage you to take your convictions into every facet of your life. Add your voices and your values to this great American experiment. You’re uniquely suited, and I believe uniquely called, to renew the fabric of our national life with your character and with your ideals.”
In closing, Pence exhorted graduates to “have faith” in what they’ve accomplished, in what they’ve learned, in America, and in God.
President Arnn bestowed honorary doctor of public service degrees upon Vice President Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence, a longtime elementary school teacher and an award-winning watercolor artist who recently illustrated a children’s book, Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President.
Ronald and Patricia Trzcinski received honorary doctor of business degrees. Mr. Trzcinski is founder of The Original Mattress Factory, president of the Trzcinski Foundation, and a Hillsdale College trustee, and he and Mrs. Trzcinski sponsor several Hillsdale programs, including online courses, the Barney Charter School Initiative, and the graduate school of government that will be launched at the Kirby Center in fall 2019.
For the first time in its history, Hillsdale also awarded two Ph.D. degrees through its Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship. The recipients were Nathan Gill, who has accepted a teaching position at a private school in New York, and Kathleen Thompson, who is planning to run for elected office in her native Louisiana.
Printed in the Spring 2018 Alumni Magazine