Slide Show: Class of 2030 Convocation Ceremony

At the traditional Convocation gathering at Middlebury Chapel, President Ian Baucom asked the Class of 2030 to imagine a message to their future selves. He paused the ceremony, asked everyone to pull out their phones and take selfies of people immediately around them. He then departed the lectern and jumped into the joyful fray for a few selfies of his own. He urged the students to treat the photos with special care, finding a way to save them for future reflection.

“Find some way to imagine who you are almost four years from now…when you’re about to graduate,” Baucom said. “I can guarantee you that more than one of you in this room, with whatever group of people you happen to sit with today—someone in that photograph, or more than one, will be a person who changed your life.”

During the ceremony, students learned about the history and traditions of the college; about who they were as a class from Vice President of Enrollment Nicole Curvin; life at Middlebury from Vice President for Student Affairs Smita Ruzicka; and the College’s honor code from Student Government Association President Anina Dentel-Pham ‘27.