Hawthorn’s Class of 2025 was honoured to have two very special speakers at their graduation ceremony on June 20th, and these remarkable women uplifted and inspired all present by their heartfelt, personal words of thanks and hope.
Firstly, US Faculty member Dr. Miriam Helmers gave the commencement address. Taking the time to acknowledge the unique gifts that each Hawthorn graduate brought to her classes over her high school years, Dr. Helmers gave a moving, reliably amusing, true portrait of these young women as scholars, yes, but more so as people who bring much-needed kindness, openness, and truth-seeking to the world as they step forward into the next stage of their life’s journey. And as she reassured the grads, Hawthorn will always be your alma mater, which literally translates to ‘nourishing mother’. ‘Because you are our child and we love you.’
Following the conferral of diplomas, Ximena ’25, stepped up to the microphone to give the valedictory address on behalf of her class. Bidding farewell and thanking such a tight-knit class and a faculty and staff that has been so formative in their lives, Ximena spoke through tears of emotion about the shining virtues of her peers and mentors. She closed her expression of love and gratitude with words from one of her class’s greatest inspirations, Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart. So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.”
Thank you, Dr. Helmers and Ximena. You did so much to make this graduation ceremony truly meaningful, a threshold moment to stop and value what now lies behind us and to look with confidence towards what awaits. Hawthorn is blessed because of you!