News Article

For the seventh consecutive year, Gonzaga University will graduate its largest class ever this weekend and next as 2,019 undergraduate, graduate and law students don caps and gowns for the University’s 116th commencement ceremonies. Graduate and undergraduate ceremonies are Saturday and Sunday, May 9-10, respectively. The Law School commencement will take place Saturday, May 16.

Following are a few story ideas and the times, locations and honorary degree recipients for the three ceremonies.

Swimming for His Life: Gonzaga senior Nate Higgins is all about embracing life’s challenges and will achieve another when he crosses the Spokane Arena stage in a wheelchair Sunday (May 10) morning to receive his degree at the undergraduate commencement exercises. It’s only the latest challenge this determined young man from Richland, Wash. has overcome since a tragic accident after his senior year in high school left him a paraplegic. While working as a painter in July 2004, Higgins fell 10 feet onto concrete steps, breaking his ribs, wrist and back in two places, and shattering his skull. As his friends prepared to go to college, this former captain of wrestling and cross-country teams sat in the hospital, battling to stay alive. Swimming has kept Higgins' spirits afloat and allowed him to achieve all that he has set out to do. He swam across the Columbia River and back, and took on a nearly 2-mile swim across Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho – among other accomplishments. Higgins deferred admission to Gonzaga for a year to learn how to live on his own again. This intensely competitive, four-sport high school athlete threw himself into swimming. “I had one doctor tell me I’d never learn to swim without water wings,” Higgins recalled, adding he has “been through hell and back” with rehabilitation, depression and fighting to surpass others’ low expectations. He will graduate with a triple business concentration in economics, finance and human resources and a minor in philosophy. Higgins intends to earn an MBA/law degree at the University of San Diego and become a consultant on disability issues in the workplace. His father, Ron Higgins, is naturally proud of his son and is impressed with how Gonzaga has made the campus accessible for him. This past winter – with what seemed like never-ending snow – Security got Nate through the snow to all his classes every day. Ron Higgins can be reached at (509) 946-3596 or via e-mail at Ronald.higgins@charter.net

Seven Sets of Twins: Seven sets of twins will graduate from Gonzaga at the undergraduate commencement exercises on Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Spokane Arena. The group includes three sets from Spokane: Nicole and Stephanie Oswald and Lindsay and Hillary Huston will receive Bachelor of Arts degree Sunday; Brittany McNeal will receive a bachelor's degree in business administration and twin Natalie will receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. The Beyers – Daniel and John, from Kennewick, Wash. – and the Matthews – Jason and Tyler, from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. – all will receive bachelor degrees in business administration Sunday. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering are twins Patrick and Sean Moran from Cheyenne, Wyo. Brendan and Ryan McCarthy from Gilbert, Ariz., also will graduate Sunday; Brendan will receive a bachelor's degree in business administration and Ryan a bachelor of arts degree.

Gonzaga: A 'One-Stop Shopping Experience': The Hennessys from Clackamas, Ore., will see another member of their family, Jimmy, graduate from Gonzaga in the undergraduate commencement that begins at 10 a.m., Sunday (May 10) in the Spokane Arena. Jimmy is the third and youngest child of Tim and Catherine Hennessy to graduate from Gonzaga. Danny graduated from GU in 2007 and their daughter, Brianna, graduated from Gonzaga in 2005. Tim is a 1978 alumnus and Catherine is a 1980 alumna. “GU was truly the one-stop shopping experience for my family,” said Tim Hennessy, adding that his wife's parents graduated from Gonzaga in the early 1950s, his brother in the '60s. Several of Catherine’s uncles also are Gonzaga alumni. “As you can see, GU has a very special place in our hearts and lives,” Tim Hennessy said.

The Ceremonies
The Graduate Commencement Ceremony will take place in the McCarthey Athletic Center at 5 p.m., Saturday, May 9. The keynote speaker will be former Jesuit Scholastic Christopher Lowney, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. Anna Ledgerwood, director of trauma and professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

The Senior Commencement Ceremony will begin in the Spokane Arena at 10 a.m., Sunday, May 10. Gonzaga President Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., who will step down as president this summer after 11 years, will be the keynote speaker. Father Spitzer will receive the DeSmet Medal, Gonzaga’s highest honor. Longtime Gonzaga benefactors Tom and Camilla Tilford will receive honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Gonzaga.

Law School Commencement will take place in the McCarthey Athletic Center beginning at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, May 16. The Honorable Ryan C. Crocker, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Gonzaga and will be the keynote speaker. Thomas J. Greenan will receive Gonzaga’s 2009 Law Medal, awarded to individuals who have provided exemplary service to the law.