Reminding Santa Clara University’s Class of 2020 that the United States needs to re-order its “hierarchy of values,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a 1989 alumnus of Santa Clara University, helped SCU’s graduating seniors mark what would have been their Commencement Day in a virtual event celebrating their accomplishments.
The celebration was held at noon on June 13, 2020.
“All of us can do more and be better when we see the world with a different set of eyes, a little more empathy, a little more care, a little more collaboration, a little more recognition that we, as a society, are leaving too many people behind,” Newsom told the estimated 1400 students graduating from what he called “one of the world’s great institutions, Santa Clara University.”
Newsom was among more than a dozen Santa Clara leaders, professors, and alumni sending messages of congratulations to the graduating seniors, who hail from 42 states and 10 countries. Fifty-three percent of the class is female; 47 percent male.
“Your education here is not about jumping through hoops, nor is it an obstacle course to graduation,” SCU President Kevin O’Brien, S.J., said in his message to students. “As a Jesuit university, the measure of who we are as a university is who you become as persons.”
Among the other Bronco supporters sending congratulations were:
Comedian, satirist, and former SCU Frank Sinatra Artist-in-Residence W. Kamau Bell
Former NBA all-star legend Steve Nash ’96
University of California system president and former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano ’79
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta ’60 J.D. ’63
Former Olympian and FIFA World Cup soccer champion Brandi Chastain ’91
Former NBA champion Kurt Rambis ’80
Grammy-winning artist and 2019-2020 SCU Frank Sinatra Artist-in-Residence Rhiannon Giddens
Former California Gov. Jerry Brown ’59
The virtual event was preceded by a livestream montage of senior photos and congratulatory messages posted by family, friends, professors, and other Bronco supporters.
In response to preferences of the class, Santa Clara plans to bring back the Class of 2020 for an official, in-person, commencement ceremony in Spring 2021.
Source: Santa Clara University
www.scu.edu.
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