Dr. James Moore, Interim President of West Virginia Wesleyan College
May 8, 2022
Note: These remarks were delivered at a special commencement for the class of 2020. Due to the pandemic, there was no in-person ceremony for this group as their time came to an end abruptly without the traditional celebration.
There are so many things that I wish I could change about the 2020 spring semester. I don’t mean to sound trite when I say that, either, not like I’m ignoring the big, viral, pandemic elephant in the room. But as I reflect on that time I’m filled with so many emotions, just as I’m sure all of you are, too.
I question every decision I made as a leader in the academy. Every single one. I got some right, I got some wrong. I question everything we did as a College – same deal, we got some right, and we got some wrong.
But what I don’t question is the strength, determination, and metal of the class of 2020. Consider what you had to deal with for just a moment. The world, quite literally, ripped you from your campus during the final semester of your College experience, right after midterms. You were robbed, we were all robbed, of things we’ll never get back and that can’t be replaced. But through it all, you kept going. You didn’t stop learning, you didn’t stop giving, you didn’t stop taking care of each other, and you didn’t stop loving this place. This class, the class of 2020, will always have a special place in my heart. It was in considering you and your journey during the most frightening time in my life that I realized that young people like you are our greatest hope for continuing to move society towards that ideal that we’ll probably never achieve. It may be in considering you that I can fully realize that, as my dear friend and colleague Dr. Melody Meadows often says, you aour students, are the greatest measure of our success.
So we’re gathered here on this Sunday, on Mother’s Day, in this big space, and there aren’t that many of us. But that shouldn’t diminish the importance of our time together today. In fact, I think it makes it more special. You chose to return here today, two years after you should have been able to be at your home among the hills to celebrate your acomplishments, to take your selfies, to bask in the glory of a future not yet written. Only you know a little of what the first chapter or two looks like on this day. That’s pretty cool.
Never forget how proud of you we are, how much we truly do love you, and that this place was, is, and will always be, your home. Congratulations and welcome home.