The Columns » Washington and Lee University to Celebrate 237th Baccalaureate Commencement » Washington and Lee University

W&L News Bureau
May 21, 2024

Washington and Lee University celebrates its 237th Commencement on Thursday, May 30.

University President William C. Dudley will address graduates at the 10 a.m. ceremony on the front lawn of the main campus. Martha Ernest, 2023-2024 Student Body Executive Committee President, will speak on behalf of the Class of 2024.

Commencement festivities begin Wednesday, May 29, at 10 a.m. on the Front Lawn with the traditional Baccalaureate service with speaker Kiersten Barnet ’05. Barnet is the executive director of the New York Jobs CEO Council, a non-profit membership broker that harnesses the power of the collective to scale workforce development solutions that benefit both job seekers and businesses. As an alumna, Barnet serves on the Board of Advisors for W&L’s Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics. She was recognized for her service and support to both the university and her community with a Distinguished Young Alumna Award in 2015.

Also speaking at the baccalaureate service is this year’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award winner, Katie Yurechko ’24, of Havre de Grace, Maryland. Yurechko was selected by the faculty as the person who best demonstrates high ideals of life, spiritual qualities and generous service to others.

During Thursday’s commencement ceremony, W&L will recognize 18 retiring faculty and staff members who total more than 504 years of service.

Six graduates have accepted Fulbright grants for international postgraduate work.

• Anna Bosking, a global politics major from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will work as an English teaching assistant in Columbia.
• Benton Copeland, double majoring in economics and East Asian languages ​​and literatures from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, will serve as an English teaching assistant in Taiwan.
• Gillian Holloway, an English and Spanish double major from Houston, Texas, will work as an English teaching assistant in Spain.
• Jack Maloy, an earth and environmental geoscience major from Midlothian, Virginia, will work as an English teaching assistant in Germany.
• Catherine McKean, biology and German double major, will work as an English teaching assistant in Germany.
• Michelle Morgan, a political philosophy and anthropology double major from Milliken, Colorado, will work as an English teaching assistant in North Macedonia.

Thirteen seniors also received scholarships for graduate studies.

• Katie Yurechko, a computer science and philosophy double major from Havre de Grace, Maryland, has been selected as the first Marshall W&L Scholar and will begin graduate studies at Oxford University in England. She was also named the Omicron Delta Kappa Academic and Research Leader of the Year.
• Posi Oluwakuyide, an economics major from Union, New Jersey, received a Critical Language Scholarship to study Portuguese in Brazil.
• Jules Seay, an earth and environmental biology and geosciences double major from Atlanta, Georgia, has been selected for a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellowship to study ecology.
• Will Martin, a global politics and Russian area studies double major from Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded a David L. Boren Scholarship to study Russian in Kazakhstan.
• Lillie Taylor, a history and East Asian languages ​​and literatures double major from Augusta, Ga., received a Japanese Teaching and Exchange (JET) program award.
• Chelsea Adotey, a neuroscience and East Asian languages ​​and literatures double major from Stafford, Va., received a Japanese Teaching and Exchange (JET) program award.
• George Alford, a German and religion double major from Atlanta, Georgia, received a US Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Ian Kinney, an environmental studies major from Richmond, Virginia, received a teaching assistantship in the US to teach English in Austria.
• Rheannon Loth, a chemistry major from Afton, Virginia, received a US Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Maddy Mayer, double majoring in German and cognitive behavioral science from Dublin, Ohio, earned a US Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Adelaide Dashiff, a global politics major from Nashville, Tennessee, has been selected for the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).
• Tess Deyerle, a cognitive and behavioral sciences major from Midlothian, Va., has been awarded a position in the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).
• Sarah Footer, a romance language major from San Diego County, California, has won a spot in the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).

In the event of rain, events will be held at the Virginia Military Institute’s Cameron Hall and the W&L community will be notified via broadcast email, a notice on the university website and other means. Complete details on all commencement activities at W&L can be found at https://wlu.edu/commencement. The commencement ceremony will also be streamed online at https://go.wlu.edu/livestream.