© 2024 WYSO
Our Community. Our Nation. Our World.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Antioch College to hold first in-person commencement since 2019

Antioch College in Yellow Springs
Antioch College
/
Antioch College
Antioch College in Yellow Springs

Antioch College will hold its first in-person commencement since 2019 this Saturday at 10 a.m.. The ceremony will take place outdoors on the college’s “horseshoe lawn.”

Nearly 30 students will graduate, almost half of them with honors.

This year’s keynote speaker is Emmett Schelling, the executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas.

Schelling was included in TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2022. He was recognized for his work as a pioneer for transgender people’s rights.

Schelling said he is not letting the recognition go to his head.

“I'm incredibly grateful and just overwhelmingly humbled by the recognition and also deeply aware that I did not arrive at that moment single handedly by any means,” he said.

Schelling said he plans to encourage graduates to continue in the fight for equality and to stay true to themselves.

Schelling joins an illustrious group of Antioch College commencement speakers that includes Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965, Eleanor Holmes Norton in 1980 and Julia Reichert in 2020.

“Antioch is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, and Emmett brings a very important message for our times,” said Matt Shetler, the college’s director of communications.

The ceremony is in-person, but safety precautions will still be in place. Chairs will be spaced out and people sitting under the ceremonial tent will be asked to wear a mask.

Public seating will be available.