Graduation, Awards Ceremony speakers picked

Congratulations to seniors Bethany Beaver and Summer Hunter-Kysor, who have been selected to deliver remarks at Commencement May 14 and the Student Awards Celebration April 28, respectively.

Bethany’s working title for her Commencement address is The Harvard of Ohio. Her message will be about the common experiences of the Class of 2017 and how those experiences bind them to Heidelberg as a home while driving them forward. She is a resident assistant and a member of the track and field team, the Speech Team, president of College Democrats and a member of Kappa Psi Omega. In April, she will serve as Secretary General as Heidelberg hosts the Model United Nations of the Far West Conference in San Francisco.

For her remarks, tentatively titled Looking Back but Moving Forward, Summer will honor the diverse accomplishments and contributions to the community that her class has made and reflect about how the class has formed its identity as individuals and as a group, and left their mark at HU. She is involved in Greek life as a member of Kappa Psi Omega and also is a member of a number of academic honoraries. She'll serve as co-president of the General Assembly for the Model UN. On campus, she's a member of the women's tennis team, works in the Instructional Resource Center and recently started tutoring students in Spanish.

Bethany, a political science and religion double major, and Summer, an international studies and history double major, presented their speeches before a selection committee of students, faculty and staff on Tuesday.

Additionally, graduating MBA student and admission counselor Brady Gibson has been selected to give remarks representing graduate students. He plans to focus his remarks on his personal transformation from shy high school student to confident graduate student and all of the opportunities Heidelberg has extended in his pursuit of a successful career and life.