Clemente Graduation 2008

Franklin & Marshall's Clemente Course Holds Graduation

On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, members of the Franklin & Marshall Clemente Course celebrated the graduation of two students who had just completed the yearlong humanities program.

The course, which will begin its fourth year this fall, is a free, college-level program in five disciplines (art history, U.S. history, moral philosophy, literature, and writing), taught in a college setting by college faculty. The students are people whose economic circumstances have limited their educational opportunities.

Clemente Director Marcy Dubroff hands certificates of completion to 2008 graduates Krystal Dennison and Richard Bowman.

Family, friends, and faculty in the College's Philadelphia Alumni Writers House surrounded this year's class--Richard Bowman and Krystal Dennison--as they received their certificates of completion. Clemente Course Director Marcy Dubroff welcomed the crowd and spoke about each student's distinctive achievements and contribution to the class. She also reminded the graduates "knowledge matters...and to never stop learning and asking questions, especially the difficult ones...those are the questions...that lead us toward truth."

Dean of the College Kent Trachte gave the main address in which he discussed the connections between a liberal arts education and citizenship. "The role of a liberal education in a democracy is profound and fundamental," said Trachte. "I hope and trust that you feel that your Clemente Course has provided you with a greater capacity for narrative imagination and a greater willingness to live the examined life, and a stronger capacity for reasoned discourse. I hope and pray that you will use these capacities to remain and become even more engaged as citizens. And I encourage you to look for other ways to learn more about the liberal arts."

The evening concluded as Dubroff and the faculty presented certificates of completion and gifts to the students.

"This journey, this search for knowledge that you began last October, was all the more rewarding because you were able to share it with other people," said Dubroff, as the crowd applauded the graduates.

(L-R): Marcy Dubroff, Richard Bowman, Krystal Dennison, and Dean of the College Kent Trachte.

Family surrounds graduate Krystal Dennison.