Olivia DrakeMembers of the board of trustees, members of the faculty and staff, distinguished guests, new recipients of graduate degrees and Class of 2009, I am honored to present some brief remarks to our graduates on the occasion of their commencement. This year I’ve continued my “second Wesleyan education,” but I am still very much an underclassman. You seniors often asked me: “Roth, what are you going to major in? What are you focused on?” My focus as an undergraduate was on how people make sense of the past. My focus as your president is on how to link our sense…
After exams finish up, Kudakwashe Ngogodo '08 hopes to provide safe drinking water in a rural community in Zimbabwe. Jessica French Smith '09 wants to spend her summer building a community center for the troubled youth of Nagarote, Nicaragua. With support from the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace Program, Smith, Ngogodo and other students from 65 colleges and universities will receive funding to undertake their proposed projects. Philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, on the occasion of her 100th birthday in February, established the new program with a donation of one million dollars so that each of the projects will…