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鈥淯p to this point, your time and, by extension, your life, has been measured in semesters and academic years, by credits, by weekly Chapel services, by final exams,鈥� said Hearit, who is an assistant professor of management at the college,鈥� in her address, titled 鈥淧eople of Hope.鈥�  鈥淎fter today, no one is grading you on how well you鈥檙e doing. There鈥檚 no syllabus to follow.鈥�

鈥淭his is where, if you might indulge me, I鈥檇 like to offer one last lecture about building a framework for sustainable hope in a world that often challenges our faith and beliefs,鈥� she said.

Read the full Commencement Address  

鈥淗ow do we sustain this hope outside the structure and rhythms of Hope College?鈥� Hearit asked.  鈥淲ell, Steven Garber, from the Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture, found you actually need three things: a worldview, a mentor you can go to for advice and Christian community.鈥�

More than 730 graduating seniors from throughout the United States and 17 foreign countries, and three graduates of the Ready for Life program that is based at Hope participated in this year鈥檚 Commencement, held at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium.  The program also included the names of the first nine graduates of the Hope-Western Prison Education Program, who will be honored during a separate ceremony on Wednesday, June 25, at Muskegon Correctional Facility.

Read the full Baccalaureate Address  

In addition, the college presented an honorary degree, the Doctorate of Humane Letters (LHD), to emeritus professor John Yelding.  Yelding, who retired in 2019 as the Susan M. and Glenn G. Cherup Associate Professor of Education and department chair, joined the Hope faculty in 1994 after serving as a teacher and administrator in K-12 education for 25 years.

As it happened, the occasion also included a surprise honor for Hearit.  Prior to her address, she was announced as recipient of the 2025 Hope Outstanding Professor Educator (H.O.P.E.) Award.  Presented annually by the graduating class, the award is a closely held secret until the ceremony.

Hearit opened her discussion of the importance of holding a worldview with a down-to-earth example:  eyeglasses.  鈥淎 worldview is much like that: a lens through which you view the world. It has to do with what you believe to be true,鈥� she said.

鈥淎s you leave Hope College, you鈥檙e going to encounter people with different worldviews than your own,鈥� Hearit said. 鈥淪ome may view your Christian worldview differently 鈥� but, these are opportunities to continue to explore how the worldview of your childhood might become the worldview of your adulthood. That is exciting, but hard work.鈥�

鈥淎nd it is work you must do in order to live a life of integrity,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ho you are at home, on Sunday morning, is the same person who is at work, presenting in the boardroom, sitting in the school drop off line or grabbing a coffee with your friends.鈥�

Mentors, she explained, provide invaluable perspective, but needn鈥檛 be older.  鈥淚鈥檝e also found mentorship and guidance in what I鈥檝e heard called providential friendships 鈥� friends that God has placed in my life to walk alongside me,鈥� Hearit said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 important to remember is that who you become is influenced by the five people you spend most of your time with. So be wise about who you surround yourself with.鈥�

Christian community, Hearit said, is found most readily with a church.  She described her own faith journey, which led her to teach at Hope and ultimately to find a church home at Pillar Church where, she said, 鈥淚 began to find Christian community, and mentors.鈥�

鈥淔or the first time, I realized that my faith wasn鈥檛 just a feeling, it was also something to intellectually pursue and wrestle with,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y worldview, the values I was trying to hold, the habits I was seeking to cultivate, and the ways in which I wanted to be present in the classroom and as a scholar all came into alignment.鈥�

From their values, Hearit said, the graduates should next consider the virtues they will practice to reflect them.  Referencing the college鈥檚 motto, 鈥淪pera in Deo鈥� (鈥淗ope in God鈥�), she commended to them the virtue of hope.

鈥淧lease understand that the hope I speak of is not mere optimism or naivet茅,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hile optimism depends on things going well, hope sustains us even when they don鈥檛. It is a firm foundation that remains solid even when the ground shifts beneath us.鈥�

鈥淲e have gathered and nurtured you here at Hope over your last four years to try and teach you the habits and practices of cultivating this habit of hope,鈥� she said.

Such hope, she said, is a virtue that the graduates can live and share whatever their path.

鈥淸Y]ou are called to see the face of Jesus Christ in those you work with, those you live next to, those you interact with,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e called to be a peacemaker. You鈥檙e called to do things differently. You are called to be a People of Hope.鈥�

The Commencement ceremony was preceded by the college鈥檚 Baccalaureate services, which were held in Dimnent Memorial Chapel and featured the sermon 鈥淭he Fragrance of the Knowledge鈥� by the Rev. Dr. Nathan Hart, who is the Hinga-Boersma Dean of the Chapel.  He developed his message through the framework of 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, which speaks of Christians as if in a triumphal procession as they carry knowledge of Jesus Christ to the world like a sweet fragrance.

The graduates, Hart reflected, would soon be participating in their own triumphal procession, as they filed to their seats to the strains of 鈥淧omp and Circumstance.鈥�  And they just might, he said, carry with them the lingering fragrance of cologne or perfume from a family member or friend who embraced them.  He encouraged them to carry faith in Christ in the same way.

鈥淸I]f we at 麻豆视频网站 have done our jobs well, you have also experienced the loving embrace of Jesus at some point over these last four years,鈥� he said.  鈥淚 hope that his scent is on you, and will remain on you, as you go out from this place and are spread into the world.鈥�

鈥淸A]s you go out into the world, as you march in that triumphal procession of this class and of all the Hope alumni who have gone before you, let your life be the sweet aroma of Christ to God, who 鈥榯hrough us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him,鈥欌�� Hart said.