More than 1,000 Seton Hall graduates received degrees and took the next steps to starting their future on May 20 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The 2013 graduation marked the 156th Baccalaureate Commencement Ceremony which turned 1,080 Seton Hall students into alumni. There were 2,232 undergraduate and graduate students who received degrees this year.
The keynote speaker was Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions Hadley P. Arkes of Amherst College.
He is a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and an expert on American political philosophy, public policy and constitutional law. He was awarded the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at Commencement, along with Father Ian Ker, according to a Seton Hall news release.
"Mr. President, I'm touched by the honor you've settled on me today," Arkes said, according to the release. "I'm grateful to take up the degree awarded by this College, and I'm proud to join these graduates and the parents who brought them to us as gifts."
Graduating student Carly Reed said she was not too impressed with the keynote speech.
"I know he (Arkes) didn't even wish us luck or anything," Reed said. "Or give us any advice and then he started talking about porn."
Bradley Brennan Childs, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Summa Cum Laude, delivered the Valedictory Address.
"We came onto campus four years ago with different backgrounds and different life experiences. We leave this campus 1,359 days later as a collective unit - we are the class of 2013. At this moment, we are in absolute bliss. We are all Seton Hall University Pirates - and it does not get any better than that," Childs said, according to the release.
Quemars Ahmed, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Diplomacy and International Relations Magna Cum Laude, delivered the Salutatory Address, according to the release. He said: "I think that the legacy of the Class of 2013 will be defined not so much by what we've done these past four years, but by what we will do in the years to come...I know many of our graduating class have achieved so much and have so much to be proud of already, but we also have the opportunity to build off our Seton Hall experience and continue to do great things."
The release said The Most Rev. John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark, asked Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton to bless the graduates, parents of graduates and the University as she "hopes to see her vision fulfilled by you."
University President Gabriel Esteban said, "I charge you to value the people around you - more than the things around you. I charge you to discharge your acquired knowledge with wisdom and compassion. I charge you to serve others and make this a better world," according to the release.
Lindsay Rittenhouse can be reached at lindsay.rittenhouse@student.shu.edu.
