Graduation: Class of 2019
On July 6th Vesalius College held a commencement ceremony to celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2019. Acting Dean Olesya Tkacheva opened the event by highlighting the uniqueness of VeCo’s approach to education that makes its graduates competitive worldwide.
The college was honored to have President Emeritus of European Council and former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium Herman Van Rompuy as keynote speaker. After congratulating students on achieving this important milestone he gave a powerful pro-European speech, highlighting the many benefits brought by the EU to its citizens. At the same time, he stressed the still incomplete nature of the European project in many areas -from migration to the completion of the euro area, and the several challenges that Europe faces, including the danger and seduction of nationalism and pessimism: “pessimists are never afraid of being wrong, if what they preach does not come to pass they just say ‘so much the better’, if it does they say ‘I told you so.'” Real courage is demonstrated by those, like President Van Rompuy, who are optimists about Europe.
Chairman of the Vesalius College Board Freddy Van de Spiegel concluded the event by whishing the students all the best in their future endeavors.
This commencement provided the opportunity to recognize academic achievements of the Class of 2019. Stephan Bergmann Johansen gave a valedictorian address, Verena Feiersinger and Britney Burger received Andrée Bingen senior scholarships. Lilia Kouzmanova received Franz Bingen award for the best honors essay.
