Rebecca Anderson of Boone, N.C. graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, with a major in Biological Chemistry and Mathematics and a minor in Digital and Computational Studies.
Anderson graduates as a member of the College Key, an honor reserved for students who have exhibited outstanding character, academic excellence, campus and community service, as well as leadership and future promise, and of Phi Beta Kappa, an organization recognized as conferring the highest undergraduate academic honors and as the oldest Greek letter society in the United States. Anderson was also granted the Bates Senior Scholar Award, an honor bestowed upon graduating seniors who have participated in varsity sports for four years and have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above.
On May 26, 2024, Bates College graduated students from 36 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 19 countries, with 437 members of the Class of 2024 accepting congratulations and diplomas from President Garry W. Jenkins.
It was the first Commencement for Garry Jenkins, who took the helm at Bates on July 1, 2023. He noted how the graduating class’ time at Bates has been bookended by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the horrific shooting in Lewiston Oct. 25, 2023. “The Bates Class of 2024 has been tested, and they have persevered,” Jenkins said. “They have taken on everything that has come their way and they also have thought deeply about their personal relationships to local, national, and global events. And in so doing, they have found joy and strength in one another, in connections, in relationships.”
“Lean into this grit,” Jenkins told the Bates Class of 2024. “This resolve and resiliency you’ve developed. Practice and further cultivate your ability and stamina to take on challenges as you encounter them, to adjust to changed circumstances, to make the best of less-than-ideal situations, to regroup when you are knocked off your planned course.”
The Commencement speaker was Mary Louise Kelly, the host of NPR’s evening news program All Things Considered, who received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. The two other honorands were poet Richard Blanco, who received a Doctor of Letters degree, and President Emerita Clayton Spencer, who served as president of Bates from 2012 until June 30, 2023 and received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Located in Lewiston, Maine, and home to about 1,800 students, Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal arts college.
Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal arts college, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world. Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. Committed to opportunity and excellence, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion, or national origin. Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world.
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