of 2023 Reflections on Commencement Day

By Steven Weiner, President

As the joyous notes of the Prince Charles Pipe Band lead the commencement procession and the speakers spread their wise words of persistence and hope, our students betray increasing impatience for that moment when the air will be filled with confetti and mortarboards. I get it.

Their impatience stands in marked contrast to my abiding desire to prolong the moment. As each student walks across the stage, I remember our conversations about their grandparents’ struggles, or their desire to make the world a better place, or the way they encourage their younger siblings to reach for the stars. I feel such pride in how they arrived at the grand achievement of receiving a college degree.

I also start to imagine all the promise that their future might hold. As Social Justice Award Winner Diana Guardado ’23 walks across the stage, I think about the ways her political ambitions might be realized; as 6’6” Chase Direito ’23 comes forward, I think about his future as a member of the professional volleyball Champions League; I hand Motsumi Banjoko ’23 her diploma while imaging the moment that awaits her three years hence when she’s due to receive her law degree from Northwestern University; and I imagine the professional success that awaits Basil Merk ’23, given his next role as an associate consultant at Bain & Company.

As president, I speak on behalf of all faculty and staff as I wish our graduates every success in life, while I also express our gratitude that our newly-minted graduates chose Menlo College on their life journey. My life has been enriched by their presence.