Castleton Commencement Recap

THOMAS KEHOE:  

Welcome, I am the Castleton SGA president, Thomas Kehoe. 

Encompassing five campuses and multiple learning sites, Vermont State University is situated on the lands and waters that have long served as places of convening and stewarded by generations of Indigenous peoples, particularly the Western Abenaki. 

We honor and respect the indigenous knowledge interwoven in these lands and waters, and we also recognize that a land acknowledgement is merely a first step toward addressing historical injustices.  

We commit to uplifting the Indigenous peoples and cultures present on these lands and waters and within our communities in alignment with our dedication to nurturing a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive learning and working environment where all members of the community are valued and respected. 

It is now my pleasure to introduce Vermont State University President Dave Bergh.  

PRESIDENT BERGH: 

Welcome to the Vermont State University Castleton Commencement Ceremony, the 2^nd Official VTSU Commencement!  

Before we go any further, let’s take a moment to celebrate the heart of today’s event—our graduates. Please join me in a round of applause for the VTSU Class of 2025!  

Good morning and welcome to you all. I expect it’s an especially good morning for our graduates, and maybe an even better one for the family and friends who are celebrating here with us today. 

Thank you all for being here in Castleton on this glorious Vermont day. Thank you students for all the hard work you put in to get here, thank you families and friends for your unwavering support, and thank you VTSU faculty and staff for your passion and dedication to our students and their success. I also want to extend a special welcome to former President Dave Wolk. 

I am joined on the stage today by Chancellor Beth Mauch, Board of Trustees Chairwoman Lynn Dickinson, Trustee Megan Cluver, Trustee David Durfee, Provost Nolan Atkins, Dean of Students Jamia Danzy, Dean Cathy Kozlik, Mace Bearer Dr. Flo Keyes, our Platform Marshal Dr. Andre Fleche, and our keynote speaker, John Casella.   

It is our collective honor and deep privilege to be here with you all today and to bear witness to your triumph – to watch all of you – Vermont State University’s second graduating class – cross this stage and collect the diploma/credential you have earned.  

We are all here to celebrate not only this thrilling moment in your educational career – with the gowns and the photographers and the handshaking, and the tears of joy (mostly mine) – but also the countless invested hours that led to this moment. Hours of studying, questioning, practicing, planning, programming, building, testing, trying, failing, and trying again with the industriousness, creativity, and dogged determination that defines Vermont State University students and will serve you well throughout your personal and professional lives.  

As you prepare to embark on the next chapter – whether that be a first job, a new job, a promotion, a new degree – I want to draw attention to a few often overlooked, but highly valuable competencies you have developed in your time as a VTSU student – gifts I hope you will continue to nurture and practice throughout your life.

Curiosity, Flexibility, and Courage.  

Be curious. 

Curiosity is how you started this journey. Curiosity led you to VTSU – curiosity about who you are, how you learn, what you love, and how you can learn to do what you love better and make a living at it. Maybe your curiosity pushed you to take an extra lab, join a club, take a class online, travel abroad, go to a conference, pursue an internship or an apprenticeship, or do something that really, really freaked you out. Your curiosity probably also led you astray once or twice along the way, because, despite what they say about the dubious relationship between curiosity and cats, few real, worthy journeys in life follow a perfect or linear path. Just take our own esteemed Max the Cat as an example.  

Stay curious about people—especially those who may think differently than you. Ask more questions than you answer, and challenge yourself to listen and truly hear what others are saying – both their words, and their meaning. Learn new skills, even when you don’t have to. Read as much as you can. And never assume you’ve got it all figured out, because in my own experience, moments of surety most often occur right before the universe decides to teach me a lesson.   

Curiosity will keep you growing long after you leave the classroom. It will keep you sharp and protect you from complacency. Curiosity is a gift, albeit sometimes an uncomfortable one, that, perhaps most importantly, will lead you to empathy, kindness, creativity, and innovation— vital qualities we need more of in the world today. 

Be flexible. 

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that life is unpredictable and change is constant. Sometimes you may CHOOSE to change careers, change cities, change skills, change direction.  And sometimes, change may not be your choice, but a requirement.  

Whether you are off to start your first career, or your 3rd, you will likely all face moments that challenge your plans—and your patience. 

And again, that’s okay. 

Success rarely looks like what we imagine or expect. You will face some challenges that are easily navigated, and others that test your character, strength, and resolve in the extreme. Facing the ebb and flow of life’s challenges with flexibility allows you to pivot without losing purpose. To adapt without losing agency. To be resilient, rather than rigid. Maintaining an ethos of agility will allow you to embrace change over time, not as an obstacle to conquer, but as a partner in your growth. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly: Be courageous. 

Our world is complex and fast-moving. You will encounter uncertainty, disappointment, and moments of doubt that require you to deploy more courage than you feel you possess. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision that something else matters more. Courage is taking on a challenge with honor, fortitude, and purpose. Courage is speaking up when it would be easier to stay silent. It is abandoning what’s comfortable in pursuit of what’s meaningful.  

You don’t need to be fearless – no one truly is. You just need to be brave enough to take the first step, and then the second, and then the third, and so on. Some of the most important choices in your life will not come with a roadmap or a role model. But the courage to begin anyway, to try and be willing to fail, and then to try again—that’s what shapes true leaders, thinkers, and doers. 

Graduates, the world needs you now more than ever – not just your knowledge and skills, but your character. We need your curiosity to solve problems we haven’t yet imagined with empathy, respect, and kindness, we need your flexibility to navigate whatever challenges come next with patience and grace, and we need your courage to take the first steps. 

I want to take a moment to emphasize the importance of kindness – kindness to yourselves and to those with whom you are sharing your journey. We are all fellow travelers and we are all deserving of patience, grace, and support as we navigate this together.   

As I imagine the full scope of the positive impact you all will have within your families, your workplace, your communities and beyond, I am filled with a sense of deep hope and resounding optimism for our collective future.  

On behalf of Vermont State University and all the faculty and staff here on the Castleton Campus thank you. Thank you for trusting us with your education. Thank you for letting us learn, adapt, and grow with you.  

It’s been a true honor for all of us to share this part of your lives with you. 

Congratulations, graduates. 

ZACK DURR: 

Thank you, President Bergh. For those who may not be aware, each of today’s Bachelors graduates were required to take an Effective Speaking course during our time at Castleton. I suppose this speech may show if that course is one worth taking (pause for laughter). In all seriousness, it is an absolute honor to speak in front of you all today as the President of the Graduating Class of 2025. Each year, the student commencement speaker is a high-achieving, highly successful student leader who has made a drastic impact on the institution during their time at Castleton. All of those extremely successful student leaders who are graduating today must have declined the opportunity to speak, because I ended up here instead. 

All jokes aside, I’d like to begin my remarks by sharing some messages of gratitude. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for changing me, rescuing me, and giving me the gift of eternal life. Anything is possible with him. But on behalf of the Class of 2025, I’d like to extend a thank you to all who are here today. To all of the parents, siblings, significant others, faculty, staff, coaches, and all supporters who are here on behalf of a graduate today, we thank you. It takes a true village for each of us graduates to get to this point in our lives, and we couldn’t have done it without your academic, social, emotional, and (especially to all the parents who’ve helped pay for our tuition), financial support. I’d also like to give a brief shout out to my Mom, my Dad, my sister Morgan, and to my girlfriend Kathryn, and all those who are here to support me today. I love you guys.  

Now, I suppose it’s that time where I’m supposed to give some sort of valuable life advice. In all seriousness, it wouldn’t be a proper commencement address if I didn’t share a quote or two. During the Boise State University Class of 2023 Commencement, Student Speaker Zack Tyree delivered some powerful words about CHOICE that I’d like to share with you all today. But before I do, I’d like to share a brief quote from my father that fits well with Zach’s words. My Dad always taught my sister and I that HATE is a strong word. Zack Tyree tell us that the word HATE, obviously, also has 4 letters. But do you know what other word Zack tells us has 4 letters? Love. He goes on to share that the word enemies has 7 letters, but so does friends. Lying has 5 letters, but so does truth. Failure has 7 letters, but so does success. Cry has 3 letters, but so does joy. And negativity has 10 letters, but so does positivity. I wanted to share this quote today for the same reason Zack did, to show each of you, Class of 2025, you always have a CHOICE. A choice to love, a choice to find joy, and a choice to tell the truth. 

And what a great choice we’ve all made to be at Castleton, or whichever VTSU campus you have come from today. For many of us, that choice was made 4 years ago, when we arrived to campus wearing masks and struggling to find our way to unfamiliar buildings by the name of Woodruff, Leavenworth, Jeffords, Stafford, and Glenbrook for our first days of classes. Whenever your first day on campus at Castleton or any VTSU campus was, I’d like you to take a moment, close your eyes, and think back to it. The weather, the people you we’re around, and the excitement you felt about starting something new. Now open your eyes. Look around you. Feel the magnitude of this day, of this moment. All you’ve done as a Castleton student. Think about the CHOICE you made to be a Castleton Spartan, and the incredible experiences we’ve had as a result. That doesn’t happen by chance. That happens because of how special Castleton is. We are part of something so much bigger than ourselves, and we will continue to be part of that as VTSU Castleton alumni. And I say this not to be cliché, but to give an opportunity to reflect on what Castleton means to each of you as we walk across this stage this morning and receive the blessing of a college diploma. 

As I’ve been reflecting over the past few weeks, I’ve realized many people have asked me about how I felt about my time at Castleton coming to a close. When answering that question, one word came to mind time and time again. BITTERSWEET. Sweet because there is so much to look forward to, and the opportunities to serve God are endless. Yet bitter, because of what is being left behind. This place we call home, the teams and groups we’ve been a part of, the relationships we’ve built, and the people who make this campus so special. I am confident that I can speak on behalf of the entire graduating class when delivering a thank you to those who help make this place feel like home, and who’ve make this day so bittersweet. To our facilities staff, public safety staff, the entire commencement committee, our tech and sound crew, and all who volunteered to make today and so many days like it happen, we thank you. To our student life administrators, Dean Danzy, Vice President Beckwith, and President Bergh, thank you for supporting this class during some of our toughest days. And to the Castleton Alumni Association, thank you for all that you’ve done to help this class have an incredible senior year. And to the Advisors of the SGA and of the Senior Class, Kayla Laurie, Gillian Galle, Matt Patry, and Marty Kelly, thank you. We couldn’t have done this without you. 

As a final message of gratitude, of which I know I’ve given plenty of, I’d like to deliver a thank you to my fellow Senior Class Officers, and I invite them to stand to be recognized. Vice President Thomas Harris, Treasurer Thomas Kehoe, Secretary Ashlesha Mainali, and Social Media Manager Nathan Pare. After fundraising over $12,500, the most of any Class in the history of this institution, these 4 deserve to be recognized for the hard work they put in towards making Castleton a better place, in everything from our iconic Class of 2025 Sparty Statue, to the cookies sitting underneath your chairs. These 4 have worn more hats during their time at Castleton than I have time to showcase this morning, and these 4 have truly lived The Castleton Way. Please join me in giving them a great round of applause. 

Even though I named just these 4, each of the graduates within our class have created their own special story during their time at Castleton, and have accomplished incredible feats. Among us, we have the Student Trustee on the Vermont State College Board of Trustees, students with 4.0 GPAs, and students who have presented at renowned academic conferences. We have Club Presidents, incredible young journalists who have written for The Spartan Newspaper, and phenomenal actors and musicians that have received significant award recognition. We have multiple all-American and all-conference student-athletes, national championship qualifiers, and academic all-American student-athletes. Class of 2025, know that you are part of a special group, a group that is one of the final graduating classes who started our time here as Castleton University students. Take pride in being part of such a special graduating class who has accomplished so many milestones, and who has made history on this campus. 

As I end my remarks, my fellow graduates, I leave you with this: remain engaged with what happens at VTSU Castleton, be part of something greater than yourself, and remember that you always have a CHOICE. A choice to tell the truth, a choice to love, a choice to have joy, and a choice to leave something better than you found it. In that pursuit, serve others in what you do, and never forget the privilege it is to be a Castleton alumni. Class of 2025, it has been a distinct honor and privilege to serve as your Class President, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to speak to you all this morning. God Bless you all, and Go Spartans! 

PRESIDENT BERGH: 

At this point in our program, I would like to take a moment for pause and reflection.   

There is a chair reserved, in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math graduate section, with regalia, a photo,  

and flowers in remembrance of Vermont State University Castleton student Bruce Waite, who passed away this past March.  

According to those who knew him best, Bruce joined our community with a passion and enthusiasm that was impossible to miss. He sat right at the front of the classroom, respectful, dedicated, and always ready to engage.  Whether the conversation focused on chemistry and biological pathways, or chainsaws and logging equipment, Bruce’s energy and intellect brought color and warmth to every discussion. He had a way of making everyone feel included – speaking to professors and classmates alike as lifelong friends – and enriched the lives of everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. 

To the Waite family, we extend our deepest condolences. Please know that Bruce will always be remembered here—not just for the invaluable contributions he made to our classrooms and community, but for who he was and the qualities that made him so special: his kindness, his curiosity, his humor, and his irrepressible spirit. 

Posthumous degrees may be awarded to students nearing completion of their degree in good academic standing; and with a favorable recommendation from the student’s major department and the Provost. It is an honor and a privilege to award this posthumous degree to Bruce Waite and to present it to his family in recognition of his hard work, his spirit, and the impact he made here on the Castleton Campus.  

As I present his degree to Bruce’s family, please join me in honoring Bruce’s memory with a moment of silence.  

We will continue to honor Bruce’s memory and achievements. His journey, though too short, will continue to inspire us to strive for excellence, creativity, and compassion. Let that be his legacy to our community.  

PRESIDENT BERGH: 

We now turn our attention to the future and the wit and wisdom of another member of the Castleton community whose legacy continues to have profound and far-reaching positive impacts on this campus, our students, faculty, and staff, the broader Castleton community, and the state of Vermont as a whole.  

It is my absolute pleasure to introduce our Keynote Speaker John Casella.  John is an alumnus of Castleton University, class of ’72, graduating with degrees in Business Management and Business Education.  He has been a pivotal figure at Casella Waste Systems Inc., serving as CEO since 1993, and Chairman since 2001. He co-owns Casella Construction with his brother, specializing in general contracting and heavy equipment operations. Mr. Casella has also contributed to numerous industry and regional boards, providing waste management guidance to governors in Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire. Please join me in welcoming John Casella. 

JOHN CASELLA: 

Thank you, President Bergh, it’s a pleasure to be here. This school played an important role in my life, and my career. I’m also pleased to say that it has played an important part in the lives and careers of a growing number of Castleton alumni who now call Casella Waste Systems their professional home as well. 

This is an exciting and special day for all of you. For graduates, it’s the excitement of launching your life, full of opportunities and possibilities. For parents, family, or spouses and loved ones, it’s certainly a day of great pride, but I suspect for some of you it might also be the excitement and relief of one less tuition bill showing up this Fall.  

Yes, this is an exciting and special day and, if my memory and experience are correct, a commencement speech has very little power to make the day measurably more exciting or special, and I’d be silly to pretend otherwise. In fact, my own view of commencement speeches and commencement speakers is fairly simple – it’s a lot like being the corpse at an Irish wake: They need you to have the party, but nobody expects you to say very much.  

If you don’t know by now the value of hard work, perseverance, helping your neighbor, doing what you love, being kind to animals, giving back to your community, deferred gratification, eating right, stopping to smell the flowers, wearing sunscreen, well, nothing I could say would change your mind, right? 

I’m always amused by how many graduation speeches come across as desperate, last-ditch attempts to fill in holes in your education, as if we’d wait until the last minute to give you the really important stuff: “Oh, yeah – by the way – hard work makes a difference. And be nice to animals.” So one of my basic assumptions is that your education here at Castleton has been extremely comprehensive and that you’re all smart enough to wear sunscreen. I think it’s a pretty solid assumption, by the way. 

So, I’ll be brief. Because the whole point of today is not to sit and pretend to listen to a lot of warmed-over, cliché-ridden advice from old fogies like me, but to celebrate your hard work, and this important passage in your life, with your friends and family. To enjoy your accomplishment and raise a toast to your college years. Because, my friends, the reality of Monday morning is coming – coming like a big glass of ice water, right in the face: You need a job. Or rather, you need an opportunity. 

And by opportunities, I mean, those that are waiting for you, and those you make for yourself.  

First, let me acknowledge what a unique and challenging period you’ve come of age in. Your boat has been in very, very rough seas – a global pandemic, and seismic shifts in our economy, our culture, and our politics. Even the confusing and gaslighting idea that character, talent, hard work don’t matter much anymore. In the middle of this some see storm clouds and despair. I’m asking you to see rays of light and opportunity. 

The most exciting opportunity you have is this – To be able to ask – today, or Monday morning, or virtually any other morning in the near future- What will the world reward in the next ten, twenty or thirty years? What will it expect from bright, motivated individuals like you? What does the world deeply need from you? 

From my perspective, the answer to those questions is becoming increasingly clear. Whatever you’re looking for in the future – a job, a challenge, to build a legacy, to make a contribution to society – you will more than likely be able to find it by somehow dedicating your skills, talents and passion to solving the world’s looming problem of limits. 

Limits, you ask? Aren’t commencement speeches supposed to be about anything but limits? About “vast, untapped potential?” 

For several American generations, over the last two hundred-plus years, that’s how we’ve been conditioned to think – no limits. And, in particular, no limits to the resources – especially natural resources – we thought necessary to build a booming nation, bursting with opportunity, material abundance, and technological triumph.  

But, clearly we are waking up – we must wake up – to the idea that there are limits, and specifically to the idea that our available natural resources are in fact finite. This has several implications  – certainly for all of us, but particularly for you graduates as it relates to your opportunities come Monday morning. 

Our entire economy is undergoing a shift towards rewarding behavior, ideas and innovation that foster the sustainability of finite raw materials and resources. And not just for the traditional concept of resources like air, water, land, soil, energy or minerals, but for sustainability in resources across the board – including people, time, relationships, capital, customers, intellectual property, education, social connection, kindness, and on and on and on. Where in the past we were somehow content to simply consume, consume, consume these resources – natural and otherwise – I am seeing a new paradigm for growth, opportunity, and abundance in our ability to transform, conserve, and sustain these resources. It comes with a unique challenge, of course.  

It is not enough simply to choose to do things that are environmentally sustainable. The hard part is to do them in ways that are economically sustainable as well. Any benefit you would see from an environmental or resource conservation innovation will be tragically short-lived unless you do the difficult and thoughtful work of having it make economic sense over the long-term. Perhaps it’s best stated simply: it isn’t always enough to be clever, you must be smart, too. 

And this is your great opportunity, no matter what it says on the diploma that each of you is leaving here today holding in your hands. Whatever you’re looking for in your future, the most significant emerging opportunities to find a job, tackle a challenge, build a legacy, make a contribution to society – whatever – will flow from your willingness to engage this program of finite, limited resources and help solve it – by being clever, certainly, but also by being smart. 

From a personal perspective, I know this to be true in the way we look at waste, recycling, and the sustainability of resources – in this case, natural resources. As a company, we must constantly change, or disappear. But it’s also the source of massively exciting and rewarding opportunities – to reinvent the way the world manages its waste. It’s why I still leap out of bed every morning. Well, maybe “leap” is too strong a word some days! 

From your perspective, there are massive rewards – economic and spiritual – awaiting those of you who apply your intellect, your training, your education, your passion, your innovation to the challenge of making life and its elements sustainable.  

For those of you in the sciences and engineering, to reinvent manufacturing, medicine, agriculture, energy, through the use and management of new materials. 

For those of you in health sciences and health care, while acknowledging the limits of the human body, push for a deeper scientific and humanistic understanding of what healthy, sustainable lives look like, and be sources of wisdom, kindness, and knowledge for all of us. 

For those of you in politics and law, to thoughtfully innovate public policy that encourages risk and reward toward building sustainable societal behavior.  

For those of you in education and social service, to be vanguards of new ways of thinking, of tackling problems, of developing solutions that become legacies. 

For those of you in business, to take ownership of, and leadership for these challenges, and to deploy your resources, human, capital, intellectual and material – to innovate and invent genuine sustainability. 

Regardless of what you choose, or where you go, I implore you to find a place that values your hard work, that puts people first, and that understands that their people are the most valuable asset they hold. As I often say at Casella, our competitors can buy the same trucks, they can invest in the same infrastructure, and use the same technology, but they will never match our investments in our people, who are our greatest differentiator. And, whether you end up working at Casella or not, your greatest opportunity is to find a calling, an employer, a career, that sees that value in you and wants to help unleash it on society. 

Please, think long and hard about this opportunity and what it looks like for you and where life will place you. This I believe – in times of uncertainty, disruption, and scarcity, you will never run out of problems to solve. And meaningful, fun careers are the reward for smart, passionate problem solvers. 

Which Castleton has prepared you to be. All that’s left to say comes directly from a great friend of mine who attended his fair share of Castleton Commencements, and it is this: You have made a difference here, now go out and make a difference in the world. Thank You.  

HANNAH REID: 

It is my pleasure to introduce a proud Castleton graduate whose leadership has helped shape both his alma mater and the greater Rutland region. Larry Courcelle, Class of 1972, brings decades of community connection, alumni advocacy, and campus involvement to his role as President of the Castleton Alumni Association. Please join me in welcoming:  Larry Courcelle. 

LARRY COURCELLE: 

On behalf of the Castleton Alumni Association and the Alumni Board of Directors, we congratulate you on your accomplishments and welcome you to the Castleton Alumni Association. As you move on to your careers, please keep in contact with the Alumni office with your new contact information. The door is always open to come back on campus to attend and help with various events and programs. 

The first award is the 2025 Outstanding Full Time Faculty Award. The Castleton Alumni Association recognizes the outstanding contributions and achievements of Castleton faculty through the Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Award by recognizing faculty members where excellence in teaching influences student’s well beyond graduation. An engraved plaque is awarded to the award recipient. 

This year’s honoree’s students have made the following statements: Always made class engaging and entertaining, always looks out for his students, motivates every person he interacts with, and is dedicated and supportive. Areas of instruction include Health, Human Movement, and Sport. 

On behalf of the Castleton Alumni Association and the Alumni Board of Directors, I am pleased to present the 2025 Outstanding Faculty Award to Professor Andrew Weinberg. 

Now I have the honor and privilege of presenting two awards for 2025 on behalf of the Castleton Alumni Association. 

The first award is the Leonard C. Goldman Distinguished Senior Award presented to a member of the senior class who best exemplifies the qualities of leadership, spirit, and service to the university, community and beyond. 

An engraved diploma frame is presented to the recipient at commencement. 

For the first time since the Distinguished Senior Award inception in 2000, the selection committee found it necessary to declare co-recipients of this award since it was difficult to make the determination that one was more deserving than the other.

This student is the VTSU Castleton Senior Class of 2025 President, VTSU Castleton Student Government Association Vice President, Associate Member of the NCAA Division 111 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, VTSU Castleton SAAC President, Men’s Track & Field Representative, Resident Assistant of Wheeler Hall, Treasurer of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and instrumental in taking the lead in the Sparty Statue project. 

He has been described as outgoing, works to collaborate with all members of the student body to engage in the learning community and is the embodiment of the heart of Castleton. 

On behalf of the Castleton Alumni Association and the Alumni Board of Directors, I am pleased to present the 2025 Leonard C. Goldman Distinguished Senior award to Zackary Durr. 

The next Leonard C. Goldman Distinguished Senior Award recipient can be defined by leadership, service, and a dedication to fostering a positive community spirit. 

This individual’s accomplishments are as follows: 

Active member of the Student Orientation Staff, 2025 President of the Student Government Association, SOS Coordinator, Castleton Alumni Association Board of Directors Student Representative, Vermont State College Student Representative, and a member of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice Advisory Committee. 

This student has worked to make a tangible impact on student life by fostering an inclusive, supportive, and engaging campus environment. 

On behalf of the Castleton Alumni Association and the Alumni Board of Directors, I am pleased to present the 2025 Leonard C. Goldman Distinguished Senior Award to Thomas Kehoe. 

CATHY KOZLIK: 

Good morning, I am Cathy Kozlik, Dean of the School of Business and Professional Studies. A generous gift from Jennifer and Fred Bagley recognizes the important contributions that dedicated part-time faculty make to the learning experience at VTSU-Castleton.  Jennifer taught many years on the Castleton campus and together she and her husband Fred have wanted to recognize in a tangible way what our part-time faculty do for the University.  Due to their generosity, the University annually honors a part-time faculty member with an engraved plaque and a nice monetary gift.  Thanks to Jennifer and Fred, this award has been given 17 times since it was first introduced in 2008, so toady we honor the 18^th recipient.  The criteria for selecting the recipient are “teaching effectiveness, creativity of presentation, expertise in one’s field, and engagement with Castleton Students and the Castleton Community.” 

This year’s award goes to someone who matches well to all the criteria of this award. This person teaches a variety of courses, has strong connections with students and the community. That sentence could apply to many of our part-time instructors, so let me be more specific: 

This part-time instructor is very involved in the Fine Arts Center, teaching Brass Methods, Instrumental Music Pedagogy and Literature, Applied Conducting, Applied French Horn, Exploring Careers in Music, Music Appreciation and of course Wind Symphony.  He is actively involved in many FAC events, including Arts Soup, Arts Reach, Directing the Pit for several musical theater productions and even brought a musical approach to the recent production of Hamlet. He is a free-lance professional French horn player who even was in the ensemble playing in last year’s HBO series “The Gilded Age.”  He is in demand as a guest adjudicator, conductor, and clinician bringing his talents and skills to many high schools and festivals throughout the area.  He is a wonderful advocate for our Fine Arts Center and all that it has to offer.  He is often in the background, just as he is today, overseeing the music performances of the National Anthem, and later, the Castleton Anthem. 

Please join me in congratulating Joshua Thompson, this year’s recipient of the Jennifer and Fred Bagley Endowed Part-time Faculty Award.