News Stories

Sounds of jubilation and laughter could be heard echoing across Colton Hall Lawn on Saturday, May 19 as 309 Monterey Institute students from 33 countries celebrated their new degrees with friends and family under sunny skies.  There are visions of a bright and bold future for these graduates who are now leaving the Institute with friends for life and armed with skills to help them “be the solution” in their chosen field.

2012 Commencement Speaker Myra Goodman, co-founder of pioneering Earthbound Farm, advised students to embrace their new careers with the fearlessness born of an open mind. She spoke of how she and her husband Drew followed their instincts to become lifelong proponents of organic farming. Myra and Drew, who after 28 years are still blazing new trails for organic food, also received honorary degrees at the commencement ceremony.

Student commencement speaker Grace Andrews (MPA ’12) encouraged her fellow graduates not to be afraid to “embrace failure”—to have the courage to try new things and learn from their mistakes. Similarly, President Sunder Ramaswamy exhorted students to “Be visionary. Be bold. Be the solution. And change the world.”

For More Information

Jason Warburg
jwarburg@middlebury.edu
831.647.3156

Eva Gudbergsdottir
eva@middlebury.edu
831.647.6606