Baccalaureate Service 2003
The Baccalaureate service derives from the medieval European custom of presenting the candidates for the degree of Bachelor (bacca) with laurels (lauri) of sermonic oration. Prefiguring the Monday’s Commencement, the Baccalaureate ceremony on Sunday is a service of worship in celebration of and thanksgiving for lives dedicated to learning and wisdom.
A religious and spiritual event planned and led by members of the Class of 2003, this service reflects the breadth of faith traditions represented in the Class. Ritually marking the close of the undergraduate years, Baccalaureate provides an occasion to remember that we do not belong only to ourselves and that our true vocations, or deepest callings, are discovered only by committing ourselves to the service of the common good. In gratitude and reverence for those sacred vocations, as numerous and as diverse in their particular expressions as the members of this Class, we gather at Baccalaureate to remember, to rejoice, and to give thanks.
This year the Baccalaureate service was held in Merrill Gymnasium because of inclement weather.