112th commencement exercises held at MCLA - Bennington Banner

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Strutting and dancing, waving and smiling.

Those motions and emotions were all on display Saturday as the more than 300 members of the Class of 2011 received diplomas at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' 112th annual commencement exercises in the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium.

A total of 303 students received bachelor's degrees, while 36 students received master's degrees in education. Six other students received certificates of advanced graduate studies in educational leadership. The number of students receiving diplomas included 175 from Berkshire County.

According to MCLA President Mary K. Grant, the graduates ranged in age from 20 to 64.

"Today, we celebrate all of you," Grant said during her opening remarks.

Spontaneous cheers and yells erupted throughout the gymnasium as individual graduates walked to the podium to receive their degrees. One student rode up the podium in a motorized wheelchair.

Citing unrest in the Middle East, stalemates in national politics and urban achievement gaps that separate inner city students from their peers academically, keynote speaker Hubert E. "Hubie" Jones urged the class to make a difference in an increasingly uncertain society.

"Simply put, we need you. We desperately need you," said Jones, a member of the social justice movement in Boston, who is dean emeritus of the Boston University School of Social Work. "We need your intelligence, your

views, and your energy to make this a better world."

Referring to social activism, Jones told the graduates "not to be squatters on the land, but to pay your rent." He also urged them to help stop the country from becoming a "warrior nation."

"We're wasting our dollars that could have been spent on our citizenry," Jones said, as sporadic applause broke out. "All you need is impatience with the status quo and the passion to make a difference."

Class President Keifer Gammell of Shelburne Falls said the graduates of the Class of 2011 may be different and unique from each other, but share a common bond due to the four years they spent together at MCLA.

"Our views, opinions and lifestyles may change, but the fact is we will still be ourselves -- the people we became at this institution," Gammell said. "Our friends, our peers, fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, teammates and co-workers will not be forgotten during the trials of time. Some friendships come and go, but our bond is true and strong."

Gammell concluded by urging his classmates to "dream big" and "live larger."

"Follow your dreams," he said. "They're only a step away."

Timothy Walton Herrene of Dalton, who represented the graduate students, recalled why he decided to return to school while recuperating from injuries he suffered in a head-on motor vehicle accident in 1997.

Referring to that crash, the 62-year-old Herrene said, "look out world. The class of 2011 is well prepared to meet you head-on."

Besides Jones, MCLA awarded honorary degrees to North Adams attorney John B. DeRosa, Pittsfield Mayor James M. Ruberto, and Sister Eunice Tassone of the Sisters of St. Joseph in North Adams.