Wabash Celebrates 185th Commencement

Wabash College will celebrate its 185th Commencement Ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, 2023, in Little Giant Stadium. In the event of rain, the ceremony will be held in Chadwick Court. 

President Scott Feller will lead the procession and will ring out the Class of 2023. 

Two graduating seniors, Benjamin Bullock and Allen “AJ” Johnson Jr. will be the only featured speakers at the Commencement in keeping with a long-standing Wabash tradition.

Bullock is a history and humanities double major and music minor from Stourbridge, England. He was a four-year member of the Wabash College Glee Club, sports editor for The Bachelor, a consultant in the Wabash College Writing Center, and a broadcast announcer for the soccer team. Bullock is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was named a George Lews Mackintosh Fellow and a Julia Rosenberg Writing Scholar. His honors include the Dean Stephens Award, Walter L. Fertig Prize, John F. Charles World History Prize, Glee Club Senior Award, and the Jim Leas Outstanding Student in Journalism Award. 

Bullock plans to pursue a master’s degree at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing, China. 

Johnson is a psychology major and Black studies minor from Indianapolis, Indiana. He was a member of the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies (served as chairman as a junior), the Wabash golf team, a senior peer career advisor, and server/cook for Bon Appetit food management. He also served as the SAAC member for the Wabash golf team in 2020. Johnson was the 2023 recipient of the Malcolm X Institute Service Award.

He will be attending Ball State University to pursue a master’s in student affairs administration in higher education. 

During commencement, the College will award honorary degrees to Dr. Kristina Box and Nathaniel Quinn ’00. 

Dr. Box was appointed Indiana’s State Health Commissioner by Governor Eric Holcomb in 2017. Prior to her appointment, she had a long and successful career as an OB/GYN doctor committed to expanding access to prenatal care, improving maternal health, and increasing awareness of safe sleep practices leading to a significant decline in Indiana’s infant mortality rate.

As State Health Commissioner, Dr. Box has focused on ensuring health equity and access for all Hoosiers, particularly historically underserved populations. In combatting the opioid epidemic in our state, she has been a vocal advocate for evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery programs, while increasing access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone. 

She has also worked at the forefront of Indiana’s response to COVID-19, using data acquisition and reporting to drive decision-making. Dr. Box was in frequent conversations with Indiana’s college and university presidents, and her efforts helped Wabash provide residential education throughout the 2020-21 school year — never missing a single day of classes due to the pandemic. She was also key to Wabash’s on-campus COVID vaccination clinics held in April 2021.

Quinn was born and raised in government housing on the south side of Chicago, but received a scholarship to the elite boarding school, Culver Academy, to escape gun violence, crime, and drug abuse in his neighborhood. While attending Culver, his mother suddenly passed away and his fathers and brothers moved away without notice, leaving Quinn homeless and abandoned. 

He attended Wabash on a full scholarship, majored in art, and was active in the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, the track team, and the Sphinx Club. He received the Phi Beta Kappa prize and graduated magna cum laude. He received yet another scholarship to attend New York University, from which he received a master’s degree in art.

Guided by visions of people both close to him and unknown, and armed with a relentless work ethic, Quinn has become one of the most accomplished artists of our time. His intricately detailed portraits have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. He has also presented solo exhibitions in France, England, Belgium, and Italy, and in top galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and his hometown of Chicago. Art collectors, including Elton John, Anderson Cooper, and dozens of professional athletes and musicians, flock to Quinn’s studio to observe his process and technique with hopes of owning his work.

Seventeen students will be inducted this weekend into the Wabash chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honorary society.

Seniors inducted this year are Brigham Anderson, Jacob Bishop, Jakob Faber, Parker Gamble, Grant Johnson, Quinn Leous, Nathan Pairitz, Ethan Stonis, Fanxiang Su, and Gaohang Zhu. Inductees from the junior class are Samuel Baugh, Kazi Hoque, Benjamin Jansen, William Keeling, Benjamin Sampsell, Owen Runge, and William Trapp. 

The Senior Art Exhibition will be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Eric Dean Gallery. The exhibition features the work of senior art majors Will Shepler, A.J. Miller, and Jess Michael. 

Commencement Day at Wabash begins at 11 a.m. with Baccalaureate, which will be held in Pioneer Chapel. The sermon will be given by Rev. Gregory T. Manning ’96 from Broadmoor Community Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Legacy photographs will be held on the sidewalk east of Center Hall at 1:30 p.m. Seniors who are legacies are invited to have their picture taken with family members at no charge.

Graduates who participated in Wabash’s ROTC program will receive their commission in the United States Army at 1:30 p.m. on the mall by the flag pole.  

At the conclusion of the commencement ceremony, the class will be led through the Senior Arch and to the steps of Pioneer Chapel where the newest graduates will sing the school song, “Old Wabash.”