Congratulations to the Class of 2012!

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Commencement Ceremony
Baccalaureate Service
New Alumni Convocation
Graduate Promenade Dinner

Carthage President F. Gregory Campbell handed out diplomas to 612 students on Sunday, May 20, before leaving the stage and taking a seat with the Class of 2012.

The retiring president and his wife, Barbara, were named honorary members of the graduating class during the Commencement ceremony, and were welcomed into the Alumni Association by Tom Kelley, '99.

"President Campbell has positioned the College to reach higher than anyone had ever imagined," said Mr. Kelley, president of the Carthage Alumni Association. "Barbara and President Campbell have enriched the lives of so many people who have had the pleasure of knowing them."

"Classmates," Mr. Campbell addressed the graduates, "Barbara and I will cherish our honorary membership in the Class of 2012." Audience members rose to their feet to applaud the Campbells' 25 years of service, and, later, as the ceremony drew to a close, the Campbells joined the graduating class for a final choral benediction.

"You are why Carthage is here," President Campbell told the graduates. Congratulations to the Class of 2012!

'Your life will never be the same'

Commencement Weekend began with the New Alumni Convocation (see photos) on Friday, May 18, in A. F. Siebert Chapel. Graduates were welcomed into the Carthage Alumni Association by Mr. Kelley. Joshua Baker, '12, president of Student Government, sprinkled pop culture references into his remarks, and joked about his class and President Campbell graduating together.

History professor Stephen Udry, chair of the Carthage History Department, addressed the graduates on behalf of the faculty. He urged members of the graduating class to enter the next stage of their lives with courage. Face your fears, take risks, embark on new adventures, he told them. "Home isn't going anywhere," Prof. Udry said. "You should. Your life will never be the same."

The convocation included a surprise for Mr. and Mrs. Campbell: the premiere performance of a work of music commissioned by the College in their honor. To Sing: A Carthage Hymn of Celebration was composed by Thomas Vignieri, '83, and performed by the Carthage Wind Orchestra and Carthage Choir. It incorporated an original sonnet written by Charles Anthony Silvestri, based on Mr. Campbell's own writings and speeches.

After the convocation, Carthage Trustees and faculty hosted the Graduate Promenade Dinner in Hedberg Library (see photos).

'Live awake'

Commencement exercises were held on Sunday, May 20. The day began with the Baccalaureate Worship Service in A. F Siebert Chapel. Bishop Wayne N. Miller, of the Metro Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, delivered the baccalaureate sermon.

Bishop Miller urged the graduates to "live awake." We often fall into a habit of looking toward what's next: the next assignment, the next event, the next stage of our lives, he said. "'Get me outta here' is a normal feeling," Bishop Miller told the graduates. But remember, "even when time seems to stop dead in its tracks, we know that it hasn't, so that in no time at all, you'll be 'outta here' and into there instead ... into that world we call real life." Soon enough, he said, "you’ll be working on ways to slow your watch down instead of speeding it up, because it feels like you just got here."

Be here — now, he said.

"Be those very rare people who live awake in the midst of a world that spends most of its time numb and unconscious and so busy chasing after a 'then' that is not there, that it never even notices the now that is here. ... The living God needs you here now, to commission you and to send you out into this world of anxiety as a source of confidence and hope, and into this world of fear and flight as a rock of steady, quiet courage." (Download Bishop Miller's address.)

'Find something in your lives that calls you beyond yourself'

The Commencement Ceremony was held at 3 p.m. Sunday in the N. E. Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center Field House. The College awarded 588 bachelor's degrees and 24 master's degrees to the Class of 2012. Bishop Miller and Bishop Jeff Barrow, of the Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA, received honorary doctorates of divinity. The College also presented two special awards: The 24th Carthage Flame was awarded to James Unglaube, '63, Carthage's vice president for college relations and director of planned giving. The New Town Award was awarded to Norman McPhee, retired managing/artistic director of the Racine Theatre Guild and a charter member of the Fine Arts Advisory Committee at Carthage.

The ceremony included the premiere of the 2012 Commencement Film, A Knight to Remember. The annual commencement film is a tribute to the graduating class from the College. The production crew included Sam Angeli, '12; Augie Arundel, '13; Stephanie Casstevens, '12; Shannon Fox, '13; Chuck Lewis, '12; Elizabeth Reinhardt, '12; Phil Schlieter, '12; Chelsea Sigley, '13; and Nick Warrender, '13, under the direction of Paul Chilsen, associate professor of communication and digital media.

Bishop Barrow addressed the graduates. "At a Lutheran liberal arts college, the main objective is not to prepare you for a job," he said. "The objective is finding a vocation. A job is what you do every day to earn money, to take care of your family. A vocation is something that calls you beyond your wildest expectations. ... Find something in your lives that calls you beyond yourself."

"I'm here to thank you for the privilege of walking with you over these past four years," Bishop Barrow concluded. "All I can ask is that you go out and be a blessing to others."

See photos from Commencement
See photos from Baccalaureate
See photos from the New Alumni Convocation
See photos from the Graduate Promenade Dinner

Photos on Carthage Flickr

Click on any of the photos below to see Commencement 2012 photos on Carthage's photostream.