Resuming Traditions at Marist: Commencement Speaker and SPC Spring Concert Announced

Photo via Marist SPC.

Three long years since the pandemic cancellations began, Marist College is finally back with exciting announcements for the remainder of the spring semester.

Back in March, the college shared who will be speaking at the 2023 commencement ceremony. For the undergraduate presentation, Jeff Kinney, author of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, will be speaking. For the adult undergraduates, graduates, and doctoral students, Class of 1998 Marist alumnus, Jerome Pickett, will give a speech.

London Brazal ‘23, a senior who will be graduating in three years this May, loves the idea of having Kinney on our campus.

“It was a genuine shock to see Kinney’s name as our commencement speaker. It’s interesting because of how popular he was while we were growing up,” said Brazal.

According to the Director of Media Relations, Anthony Proia, “During Commencement ceremonies, Kinney will also receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Marist.”

Marist Student Programing Council also made a special announcement this past week: the SPC Spring Concert will be back, featuring “The Driver Era” as the main act.

“Nobody on this board has experienced a Spring Concert before. It’s surreal that we can bring it back for the first time in years and give the Marist community a show they’ll never forget. It took a lot of communication, deliberation, and working together to poll the population to pick an act that many people would enjoy,” said SPC Vice President Kaitlyn Dugan ‘25.

“They were very highly rated in our poll as individual artists and the pop/alternative genre was also well loved,” claimed Dugan.

Juliana Manrique ‘25, the SPC Social Media Chair, kept specific information a mystery. “All I can say is keep an eye out for @spcmarist Instagram and put your updates on.”

“It was insane; I never thought we’d be able to do it, especially with ‘The Driver Era,” said Manrique.

Ticket sales for the concert go live at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19.