Graduates of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences were reminded of how others have criticized their generation Saturday, but speakers encouraged them to seek out opportunities in order to show critics their true abilities.
Faculty speaker Daina Eglitis, an associate professor of sociology, read a letter she wrote to graduates, telling them that they cannot let authors who criticize millennials as unmotivated and narcissistic define their actions as they move forward from their undergraduate careers.
“Can you seize the power to define your generation and to create knowledge about yourselves that challenges the dominant story written to this point predominately by others,” Eglitis asked the graduates, who cheered from the Smith Center floor at the criticisms she mentioned.
Eglitis spoke to graduates in fields including political science, economics and psychology, and told them that their liberal arts educations have provided them with critical thinking skills that are in high demand by employers. She advised them to know their top five skills as their final homework assignment of their undergraduate education.
Adam Bethke, a criminal justice and political science double major, was the college’s distinguished scholar, and reminded his classmates of the changes that have occurred since their arrival at GW.
“Four years ago, GWorlds were still orange, the Avenue was still a hole in the ground and George faced left,” he said, eliciting laughter.
Dean Peg Barratt charged graduates from the University’s largest college one last time, as she will step down from the deanship at the end of this month. She highlighted research students in the audience had conducted abroad, across the country and in D.C. throughout their undergraduate careers, while sharing the experiences her own sons had after graduating college.
Barratt urged the graduates to continue to build their skills and find opportunities for success, while reminding them of who they joined as alumni of GW, including Commencement speaker Kerry Washington.
Graduate Caitlin Souders, an economics major, said she thought the ceremony had a good cadence and that she enjoyed the emphasis the speeches put on George Washington’s motto “deeds, not words.”
Souders, who will join AmeriCorps and teach at Citizens Schools after commencement, said internships and service learning had been a large part of her GW experience, adding that volunteering in D.C. suburbs had been a favorite part of her time at GW. She said the speeches focus on service stood out to her.
“I’d like to live my life that way and give back and use the experience I’ve had here to help others,” she said.
