I didn't even know about Baccalaureates when I was in high school and college. Maybe we didn't have them at my schools. When my daughters graduated from Claremont High School, they alerted me to this special pre-commencement service. For CHS I preferred these celebrations to the actual graduation because this interfaith service allowed students who weren't necessarily the top of their class or the best performers, but who were selected by their classmates to present something of themselves to their community. It was also a more reverent ceremony (no air horns and raucous cheering here).
Today I went to the Claremont Colleges Baccalaureate held in Little Bridges. Not only is this an interfaith ceremony, but the only event which brings all colleges together for graduation weekend. Students from each college participated in the service by speaking about their faith and also by performing musical pieces. The featured speaker, Gustav Niebuhr, graduated from Pomona in 1977. He spoke on the importance of friendship.
2 comments:
I also really like Baccalaureate ceremonies and enjoyed the music we played in orchestra for the Baccalaureate much more than the graduation music :)
I suppose I'll have to wait for the next graduation to get a chance to attend a baccalaureate, I didn't know about this tradition :)
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