Marking the start of the new academic year, the theme for Opening Convocation 2025 is Storytelling and Empathy.

Leah Dyjak, Associate Professor of Film, Media, and Communications, will deliver the keynote address, Hope in the Dark.

Members of the Class of 2026 should gather in the courtyard between Watson and Meneeley at 5 p.m. to line up for the procession. Faculty will meet the college marshalls at the access road between Mary Lyon and Watson in regalia at 4:45 p.m.

Program

Opening Remarks
Michaele Whelan
President

Land Acknowledgement and Invocation
Amanda J.G. Napior
Assistant Director for Religious & Spiritual Life

See invocation round below

Welcome
Michaele Whelan
President

Wheaton Anthem (Verses 1 and 3): A Song for the Sesquicentennial
Led by George Lane ’26

Greetings

Darnell Parker
Vice President for Student Affairs

Elizabeth McKinley ‘26
President, Student Government Association

Jonathan Millen
Provost

Convocation Address: Hope in the Dark
Leah Dyjak
Associate Professor of Film and Photography

Wheaton Anthem (Verses 4 and 5): A Song for the Sesquicentennial
Led by George Lane ‘26

Invocation Round

Come, Come, Whoever You Are
by Lynn Ungar

Come, come, whoever you are.

Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.

Ours is no caravan of despair.

Come, yet again, come.