Celebrating 50 years at College of the Atlantic
The Mount Desert Islander paints a rich tapestry of College of the Atlantic’s history on Mount Desert Island, a focus on regional alumnx, and a look forward toward the next five decades highlight a special publication celebrating COA’s 50th academic year.
College of the Atlantic welcomed its 50th graduating class on June 10 during a commencement ceremony held before hundreds of family members and friends.
Uplifting speeches by COA President Darron Collins, keynote speaker Julietta Singh and several members of the 90-strong COA Class of 2023 highlighted the ceremony. The Anah Highlanders bagpipers opened the proceedings with a procession led by three grand marshals – retiring librarian Jane Hultberg and retiring professors Stephen Ressel and Davis Taylor – along with Collins, Singh and honorary degree recipient Donald Soctomah.
“The experimental, ecologically based education that each graduate here today has received at College of the Atlantic has primed you to live your lives with intention, with ethically motivated purpose, with a commitment to the whole environment, in all of its social, political, and earthly manifestations,” Singh told the gathered crowd. “This moment is a palpable opening toward a life that follows but also departs from the one you’ve been living. It is saturated with everything you’re about to discover and, just as significantly, with everything that will discover you.”