Wartburg College will recognize 358 graduates in the Class of 2013 during its 161st Spring Commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 26.
Commencement for the students from 10 states and 15 countries will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Hoover Fieldhouse in the Wartburg-Waverly Sports & Wellness Center. Thirteen of the graduates received their degrees earlier this year, and 17 will be completing their studies through August. Another 42 members of the Class of 2013 graduated in December.
Wartburg President Darrel Colson will give the charge to the class. The student speaker will be Hollis Hanson-Pollock of Mingo, student body president and outstanding senior in accounting.
The college will award posthumously an honorary doctorate in humane letters to Elmer Kretzschmar, a 1936 graduate, the college’s first basketball captain as well as a senior class officer. Kretzschmar died Nov. 18, 2012 on his 100th birthday.
Kretzschmar grew up in Sumner and Strawberry Point and earned master’s degrees at the University of Iowa and the University of North Texas. He was a principal in Plainfield, superintendent in Waucoma, and dean at the State University of New York-Plattsburgh and Texas Christian University. He served in a variety of roles in the U.S. Air Force for 28 years and received the USAF Commendation Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Medal.
Two outstanding high school teachers nominated by graduating Wartburg students will be honored. Al Kerns teaches psychology, sociology and leadership courses at Aplington-Parkersburg High School. Mike Williams was science instructor and science department chair at Keota High School from 1970 to 2008.
Commencement Weekend events that are free and open to the public include:
- Senior Art Exhibit, Saturday and Sunday, May 25-26, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery, Bachman Fine Arts Center.
- May Term Band Concert, South Campus Mall, Saturday, May 25, 6:30 p.m. (Rain site is Neumann Auditorium.)
- Baccalaureate, Neumann Auditorium; Pastor Ramona Bouzard, Wartburg College Dean of the Chapel, will preach, Sunday, May 26, 10 a.m.
- Pre-Commencement Concert by Wartburg Concert Bands, Hoover Fieldhouse and Track, Sunday, May 26, 1 p.m.
- Commencement, Hoover Fieldhouse and Track, Sunday, May 26, 1:30 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.)