Pulitzer Prize Winner Offers Address at BVU Commencement
614 graduates earn master’s and bachelor’s degrees in ceremonies on May 7
A total of 614 master’s and bachelor’s degrees were conferred on Saturday, May 7, in Buena Vista University’s 131st Commencement celebration in Siebens Fieldhouse.
President Brian Lenzmeier lauded members of the Class of 2022 for their years of hard work that culminated on a warm and sun-dappled May day on the shores of Storm Lake.
“You did it showing unparalleled flexibility, dedication, and determination, battling through all the unknowns brought on by a pandemic, the likes of which our world hadn’t seen in more than a century,” Lenzmeier said.
Pulitzer Prize winner Art Cullen, who serves as Editor and Publisher of The Storm Lake Times Pilot, challenged members of the Class of 2022 during his keynote speech presented in the undergraduate ceremony, touching on issues involving climate change, food production, and disinformation.
“It will be up to a new generation—that’s you—to figure out how to feed an increasingly hungry world without flushing our natural resource base down the Mississippi River,” he said.
On disinformation, he offered, “You have received a first-rate education in logic, science, facts, and the Socratic method—if you were listening. Use it…An informed electorate is the cornerstone of a free democracy.”
Dr. Andrea Frantz, Professor of Digital Media, joined President Lenzmeier and Jerry Johnson, Assistant Professor of Digital Media, in presenting Cullen with the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
Senior Blake McMillan, of Philadelphia, Miss., provided the student address during the undergraduate ceremony. McMillan, a double-major in digital media and graphic design, recalled seeing a sign on campus asking Beavers to “Defend the Lake.”
“I look out at the faces of you, my peers, and know that after we go from here to our next chapters, you managed to create a culture that looked at a time of hard work, long nights, deep leisure, and occasional madness in the eyes, and fought back valiantly,” he said. “You all have the defended the lake so bravely and without question.”
Shannon Haus, of Ankeny, earned a master’s degree in education and presented the student address for the 11 a.m. graduate program Commencement. He cited relationships as the cornerstone for trust.
“Building relationships requires us, by default, to serve others,” he said. “My hopes and prayers are that all you continue what you started here at BVU, building relationships, doing the hard work, the interior work within yourself, and serving your community with BVU’s spirit of ‘Education for Service.’”
Dr. Lucas DeWitt, BVU Assistant Professor of Education and Director of both the Teacher Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction and Special Education Graduate Programs, was the keynote speaker for the graduate program Commencement, a celebration for 197 master’s degree recipients in a program that sets records for the University each year. DeWitt shared themes of leadership in terms of service, influence, and love.
“Leadership is gratitude and grace in all things,” he said. “Celebrate and be thankful—and thank those around you.
“Dare to be great, live to high standards, continue to pursue your goals, and look for leadership opportunities, which is truly being a servant,” DeWitt concluded.
“Dedication and determination,” were the two words Nick Bender of Granger used in describing his path to a bachelor’s degree in business through BVU’s online/hybrid program. He was joined at the celebration by his wife, Malarie (Gilley) Bender, a 2014 BVU biology graduate who kept their one-year-old son, Noah Bender, occupied during the celebration.
“We are so proud of Dad,” said Malarie, a Physician Assistant. “Nick worked a full-time job 40-plus hours per week, and we had a newborn (Noah) last May. Nick worked very hard lots of late nights. This has excelled his career.”
KayLynne Bechen, a business management and marketing major from Moville, completed her coursework early on BVU’s Storm Lake campus and has been working for a few months in Human Resources at VT Industries in Holstein. “Being supported by a second family is what BVU means to me,” she said. “I never thought I’d get this far. It’s been lifechanging for me, because of the professors and support we have here.”
All ten of BVU’s first Clausen Family Education for Service Scholars cohort graduated on Saturday. Those Buena Vista County students earned free tuition each year in return for 300 hours of service to their communities through the AmeriCorps program. Each student represented the first generation in their family to earn a bachelor’s degree.
“We did so many projects through our service in the program and doing so got us out to meet people,” said Cody Goodwin, an environmental sciences major who has accepted a job doing soil testing for Bayer in Iowa City. “I was able to make many relationships with different people because of the EFS program.”
Goodwin’s twin brother, Cory Goodwin, was also a member of that first EFS cohort. Additionally, Cory Goodwin, a criminal justice major, joined Drayke Eshelman as a senior BVU ROTC Cadet, and both were commissioned as US Army 2nd Lieutenants in the ceremony on Saturday, an event that ended with a standing ovation.
“I liked my experience at BVU,” said Cory following the ceremony. “It was the right size for me. I got to know so many of my classmates. I also had never seen our faculty all in one place before today. I think I knew every professor but three by name.”