Seniors chosen as commencement speakers

The weekend of May 13-14 will mark the end of an era for the CSB+SJU class of 2023. Three hundred ninety-eight Bennies, 331 Johnnies and 23 students from the School of Theology will cross their respective stages as a farewell to the CSB+SJU community. Commencement will be held May 13 at 2 p.m. for CSB at the Haehn Campus Center Fieldhouse and May 14 at 2 p.m. for SJU in the Abbey Church. Colette Peters ’93, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, will be the CSB commencement speaker. Kurt Vickman ’94, the founder and CEO of Good Grocer, will be the SJU commencement speaker. Julia Geller and Durran Thompson have been selected to give the CSB and SJU student addresses, respectively.

“At the end of the day, it’s a congratulations speech to everyone,” Thompson said. “It’s not just about my experience…I think our class is very resilient and very hardworking, and I think we really set the tone for what we want future classes to be like.”

Geller agreed, adding that the honor goes beyond the five minutes allotted to them at the ceremony.

“This speech is for the Bennies graduating; it’s not about me,” she said.

Geller is a communication major and sociology minor from St. Cloud and directs the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL). She is also part of the Interfaith Leadership Team for CSB Campus Ministry and Benedictine Friends. On the day she was notified that she had been selected as the commencement speaker, Geller was asked by a classmate if she had received the email just minutes before she got the notification.

“I never in a million years would have thought that I would be commencement speaker,” said Geller. who transferred to CSB as a sophomore in the fall of 2020. “[Being chosen] is the most flattering thing in the world, and it’s something that sophomore-year me…would have not ever expected.”

Thompson, who is from Nassau, The Bahamas, is an accounting and finance major and a communication minor. He served as the SJU Senate president this past year and is also involved in Delta Sigma Pi, Archipelago Club, E-Scholars, Opera Workshop, several theater performances and has served as an RA for three years. He was told by Dean Mike Connolly about the honor to speak and felt happy, scared and touched all at the same time.

“I’m a first-gen student, so this is a really big opportunity for me to just emphasize my experience in general and to celebrate all the things I’ve done with my peers,” he said.

Thompson is excited to address the student body and make his family proud, many of whom are traveling from The Bahamas for commencement. He says that five minutes isn’t long enough to express all that he wants to say.

“Going to college has opened my eyes to so [many] perspectives, so many people and so [many] leadership opportunities that I thought I was not capable of,” Thompson said. “I do think that, at the end of the day, I was gonna be a Johnnie no matter where I go.”

Both Geller and Thompson described the end of their time at CSB+SJU as “bittersweet” but are grateful for their years spent here.

“I feel like the people I’ve met here are amazing,” Geller said. “I feel like everyone here has really had some impact on me in some way, and I think that’s really cool. I feel that I’ve learned a lot, specifically from the Bennies that I’ve surrounded myself with.”

Thompson said he is thankful for all the support he has found here on campus that has allowed him to grow as a person.

“I’m just super grateful and appreciative for all the opportunities that [were] afforded for me and all the opportunities for Johnnies in the future,” he said.

Both seniors are looking forward to commencement, both to look back with their friends and family and to prepare to move ahead in the future.

“I’m going to be so sad to leave this place,” Geller said. “I’m going to be so sad to leave my friends and the community I’ve built here, but I’m also excited [for the future]. I think there’s big things to come, even though I don’t know what those are yet.”