Hillsdale College Celebrates Spring Convocation
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College hosted its annual Spring Convocation at Christ Chapel on April 11. The College community gathered together to honor the liberal arts academic tradition and celebrate the achievements of distinguished students and faculty.
Senior class president Joseph Perez led the 2024 graduating class officers in the traditional passing of the gavel to the class of 2025. Mickey Mattox, professor of theology then presented an address titled “Faith, for Freedom.”
“Higher education has been politicized with the result that a classical education in the liberal arts and sciences has become all but impossible. Too often today, American schools parrot the moral sensibilities of the newly dominant culture of the Progressive Left,” said Mattox. “Most have gone too far with that allowing themselves to be co-opted by the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age by overemphasizing sensitivity to the felt needs of the day. Many have compromised their own institutional identity and mission. Hillsdale College stands out today precisely because it has chosen a different path.”
Mattox also spoke on faith and freedom. “Our own freedom cannot be pitted against our given nature. Real human freedom, therefore subsists in freedom under God, the right exercise of which can fulfill the promise of our own given goodness within the limits proper to our creaturely frame. Faith thus stands in service to freedom,” said Mattox, “when day by day we choose the path of the self-gift, activating our freedom for God in lives of service and sacrifice poured out for others and for a world that has become lately but hardly for the first time, fretful, except in Hillsdale.”
Convocation included music performed by the Hillsdale College Chamber Choir and the presentation of the Emily Daugherty Award for Teaching Excellence to Associate Professor of English Benedict Whalen.
Provost Christopher VanOrman announced the all-school GPA for the Spring 2024 semester, 3.474, as well as the winners of the school’s scholarship cups. Women’s fraternity Pi Beta Phi earned the sorority scholarship cup with a GPA of 3.559 and men’s fraternity Alpha Tau Omega earned the fraternity scholarship cup with a GPA of 3.442.
Additionally, the top 10 students in the senior class were recognized for their academic excellence. They are, in alphabetical order: Breana Cocelli; Duggan Foley; Shannon Golden; Cecilia Guadalupi; Peter Harrigan; Curtis Herbert; Victoria Kelly; Aidan Pimlott; Caleb Sampson; and Stella Webster.
Photos are available here.