Winter Virtual Convocation Ceremony

Dear Graduates:

I and others within the St. Clair family of employees - including, of course, your professors - regret the fact that the ongoing pandemic has prevented our staging of an in-person Convocation ceremony to mark your academic achievement.

This is, after all, very much a "letter of recommendation", as I remind employers that those who graduated from St. Clair in the midst of the pandemic overcame - with rare and admirable persistence - a number or interruptions, upheavals and detours, both in their personal lives and the delivery of their educations. Through it all, however, their tenacious dedication to the development of their knowledge and skills never wavered.

That being the case, a St. Clair diploma during the "COVID era" does signify something above-and-beyond mere academic competence. It also denotes something about the personal qualities of the diploma-holders, attesting to their initiative, their ingenuity, their single-mindedness, their never-give-up attitude. They are traits that made them remarkable students and wonderful people, and which will serve both them and their employers well throughout their rewarding careers.

This black-and-white message, therefore, is many things. It is a letter of recommendation. It is a Thank You card for having chosen St. Clair in the first place. If you imagine some confetti sprinkled on it, it is definitely a banner exclaiming "Congratulations!" from all of your professors and the entire St. Clair family of employees.

And, sadly too, it serves as a Farewell, as we - with heartfelt pride - send you off into the world. I'm unreservedly confident that you will, personally and professionally, be making that world a much better place. I, and St. Clair, wish you all the best in your post-graduation life.