On Saturday, May 9th, 2015, 19 Sterling College students were awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees. The students had a range of majors and interests, but all will bring environmental stewardship to their respective careers and lives.
Award-winning filmmaker, author, and mountaineer Jennifer Jordan ’76 was the commencement speaker. She is the author of Savage Summit and The Last Man on the Mountain. Savage Summit won the 2005 National Outdoor Book Award for Best Mountain Literature and was selected as an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times. The Last Man on the Mountain won a 2010 National Outdoor Book Award for History/Biography. She also created, wrote, and co-produced the documentary Women of K2 for National Geographic, which won five major film festival awards. She is currently directing, writing, and producing the documentary 3000 Cups of Tea: The Mission and the Madness, about the meteoric rise and devastating fall of Greg Mortenson.
She talked about her Expedition experience, the winter hiking and camping trek that unites all generations of Sterling alumni, and noted wryly, “Every time I tell this story, it gets a little colder.” She said that it was her history with Expedition that allowed her to attempt a summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world, figuring, “How hard could it be?”
David Behrend ’60 was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by President Matthew Derr.
Receiving their diplomas were: Alaina O. Benot, Elizabeth Brooke Blodgett, Graham Connor Burford, Darienne Elizabeth Chouinard, Grace Costin, Katelyn Currie-Huggard, Melissa Eckstrom, Thomas Foley, Claire Julia Goldman, Jessy Parker Lee, David Martorana, Zachariah J. Messier, Brighde Moffat, Teagan Lucifer Norse, Jeremy Parnick, Elizabeth Pecoraro, Madeleine Philpott, Damiana Sawtell, and Kimberly Tri.
