‘Set An Example, Lead The Way’

Dudley Challenges W&L Class Of 2024

Washington and Lee University celebrated 448 graduating seniors at its 237th commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 30.

Keeping with custom since the 1930s for the university president to give the commencement address, President William C. Dudley told the class of 2024 to always be ready for an opportunity and reminded them that their experiences and growth over the last four years have undoubtedly prepared them for the future.

“When you arrived four years ago, you were eager and anxious teenagers, and we placed you in an environment carefully constructed to be conducive to your intellectual and personal growth,” he said. “W&L is small, rural, residential and resourceintensive. You are surrounded by extraordinary peers, professors, coaches and staff. The variety and intensity of curricular and extracurricular activity is astonishing. I hope you appreciate what a rare and remarkable privilege it has been to live in a community so intentionally and wholeheartedly committed to your flourishing.

“You have been prepared to learn, to lead and to serve. If we have done our jobs, and you have done your jobs, you are ready to make significant contributions wherever you go, for the benefit of yourselves and your families, but also for the benefit of those who are less fortunate and the communities in which you live. By investing in you, W&L has made a long-term investment in the public good.”

In his speech, Dudley reflected on the challenging start the class of 2024 had in the fall of 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. During his initial remarks to that class that fall, he encouraged them to get to know as many of their classmates as possible and to explore the full breadth of the curriculum at W&L.

“Never again will you be surrounded by such interesting and capable peers or such knowledgeable and dedicated teachers,” he said. “I hope you have taken advantage of the extraordinary intellectual and personal diversity that makes W&L such a rewarding place to live and learn.”

In his speech, Dudley told the graduates that the world is in need of their professional contributions and volunteer service — which will be considerable and consequential — but that it is in even greater need of the kind of people they have become.

“At Washington and Lee, you have learned to treat each other with respect, to express yourself and your own views with candor and to carefully consider alternative perspectives. The Honor System has asked you to be trustworthy, and to trust others. The Speaking Tradition has encouraged you to acknowledge strangers as if they were friends. Liberal arts education has taught you to listen attentively, interpret judiciously and reason persuasively.

“These habits – of intellect and character – are what the world needs. It needs these habits to chip away at mistrust, at partisanship, at polarization, to find and forge more common ground, to foster kindness and decency toward everyone, regardless of our differences and disagreements. And each and every one of you is well prepared to contribute to this monumentally important task. I urge you to embrace it, to set an example and to lead the way. Take the habits of intellect and character that you developed at W&L and change the world one small encounter at a time.”

Dudley also emphasized the importance of having fun and finding delight in what you do. He keeps a gratitude box on his desk filled with scraps of paper that capture the moments that bring him joy each week.

“Embrace the serendipity but live deliberately, as your classmate Katie Yurechko encouraged you to do [at the baccalaureate service],” Dudley said. “Ask yourself, at every stage of your life, ‘Who am I meant to be? What do I want to achieve? How do I define success? What will bring me satisfaction?’

“Do the challenging work that gives you joy. Seize the opportunities for greatness. And never forget to be grateful for those opportunities.”

- Martha Ernest ’24, president of the Executive Committee (EC) of the Student Body, spoke on behalf of her class. She was elected EC president in April 2023, after serving as a junior class representative.

A Wilson Scholar from Montgomery, Ala., Ernest double majored in politics and cognitive and behavioral science with a minor in data science.

In her remarks, Ernest noted the perseverance of the class of 2024 as they started their college careers with the pandemic rules of “three people in one room, six feet apart.”

“As I look into the crowd today, I see some of the most resilient people that I have ever met,” Ernest said. “Together, we made it through this challenging time, and we are better for it, as [baccalaureate speaker] Kiersten Barnet [class of 2005] shared with us yesterday.

“After our freshman year, in my opinion, we were finally able to experience the W&L that everyone before us had described – a remarkable place that would provide a unique sense of community and belonging.”

Ernest described the internal and external changes she and her classmates experienced and brought to the community in the years that followed that fall of 2020. From establishing new student organizations such as Remote Area Medical to raising over three times more money for Mock Convention than any other cycle, the class of 2024 left their mark on W&L’s campus. But also, Ernest said, the culture and the steadfast 200-year-old traditions of the university altered the graduates as well ...

“What we have gained through our education and experience here cannot be overstated,” she added. “We’ve had our worldviews challenged, strengthened and even uprooted. We’ve all faced loss, struggles and times of hardship and grief. And now, we face something new: the end of our time here. While I know some of us would like to stay here forever, it would be selfish of us to do so. As we enter the world, W&L has prepared us ‘for lifelong learning, personal achievement, responsible leadership, service to others and engaged citizenship in a global and diverse society.’” Ernest ended her speech by remembering the question Howard Pickett, director of the Shepherd Program and associate professor of ethics and poverty studies, asked the graduates at Convocation last fall: “Why are we here?” Ernest answered that they were here because of the support of faculty members who encouraged them to learn about the world with spirit, the dedication of staff members at W&L and the family members who pushed them to do their best.

“So today, we are here because it’s time to put these tools into action,” she said. “We are here because we chose to attend an institution that would challenge us academically and socially; one that rests upon the generations of students and leaders before us who molded W&L into the community it is today.

“And finally, we are here because of the relationships we have built with one another and will continue to maintain for the rest of our lives,” she added. “It is through these strong, close relationships that make leaving this place a little bit less intimidating. And I encourage you to lean on each other and these friendships as we enter into our next chapter.”

- During Thursday’s ceremony, W&L conferred degrees upon 448 seniors. Altogether, the class of 2024 earned degrees in 53 majors, with a record 35.7% of the class completing more than one major. Fifty-one percent of the class completed at least one minor.

Ten students were named valedictorians of the class: Sara Kate Durkee, Oskar Freiherr von Mandelsloh, Duncan John Hart, Georgia Anne McSwain, Zachary Thomas Moore, Shauna Rose Muckle, Alicia Nguyen, Aislinn Hanako Niimi, Peyton Marshall Pack and Kathryn Marie Yurechko. Each earned a final grade point average of 4.0.

Also during the commencement ceremony, W&L recognized 24 retiring members of the faculty and staff, who represent a total of 677 years of service.

A recording of the 2024 undergraduate Commencement ceremony can be found at https:// go.wlu.edu/livestream.