Hope College announces commencement, baccalaureate details
HOLLAND — Plans for celebrating nearly 700 graduating students at Hope College have been announced.
The college will hold its baccalaureate and commencement activities on Sunday, May 5. Around 680 students are expected to participate, Hope said.
The day will start with baccalaureate services at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. in the Dimnent Memorial Chapel, 227 College Ave. in Holland. Vicki-Lynn Holmes, associate professor of mathematics and education at Hope, will serve as baccalaureate speaker.
Commencement will take place at 3 p.m. at the Ray and Sue Smith Stadium, 313 Fairbanks Ave. in Holland. In the event of rain, it will be moved to the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse.
Rev. Shomari Tate, chaplain of discipleship at Hope, will be the commencement speaker.
Baccalaureate admission is by ticket only. If commencement is moved indoors to the DeVos Fieldhouse, admission will also be by ticket only.
Holmes has been a member of Hope’s faculty since 2009 and is retiring at the end of the school year. Her research focuses on the pedagogy of teaching math and the “statistical underpinnings that allow research to drive instruction.”
Holmes has served on Holland’s Human Relations Commission, as an elder at her church, and been involved with several local organizations. She received the Diversity, Service and Leadership Award from Hope’s GROW Council in 2015 and the Hope's GROW Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2018.
Subscribe: Receive unlimited digital access to your local news coverage
Tate joined Hope College in 2021. His responsibilities include preaching during the college’s weekday and Sunday evening worship services and advising several student organizations. Tate is also the teaching pastor and a pastoral care elder at The Boulevard Church.
He’s the founder and CEO of Higher Power Initiative, established in 2020 to “provide cultural competency training for churches, higher education, secondary education and faith-based institutions through the lens of racial justice.”
For more information, visit hope.edu/commencement.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope College announces commencement, baccalaureate details
