Commencement 2016, AUCA’s 20th Graduation

June 7, 2016

AUCA’s graduation is a meaningful and solemn event—the culmination of nearly a half-decade of one of the best educations in Central Asia. Fitting the event’s pomp, the ceremony itself is a colorful and well-attended event. Besides the graduates and their families, representatives from the Kyrgyzstani government, international organizations, and various embassies, AUCA’s board of trustees, faculty, and staff, as well as honored guests from overseas could be found at the ceremony.

This year, AUCA graduated its twentieth class year. Although last year’s graduation ceremony took place in part in the new campus building, the class of 2016 had the privilege of being the first group to conduct their entire graduation in the (finished) new campus building.

Gulmira Kudayberdieva, the Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic on Social Issues, attended the event as a guest of honor and underscored the gravity of the ceremony in her opening speech, “on behalf of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, I want to congratulate AUCA’s 20th graduating class. We are right to be proud of such a university. You’ve made your way from a small department to becoming one of the best universities in Central Asia, using your international experience to give students the best education. Your alumni make contributions to the development of our country with the knowledge and skillsets they acquired here. We need your educated, constructive, enterprising, and active young people! The future of Kyrgyz Republic is with people exactly like you!”

Chinara Adamkulova, the rector of the Kyrgyz National University (KNU) recalled a time, twenty years ago, when AUCA was just a structural unit of KNU known as the Kyrgyz-American Department, “This is a real example of when the student surpasses the master. Now we are anxious for your success”

“Two years ago, we were essentially homeless. But now, we can celebrate our graduates in our own, brand new, state-of-the-art building. Thanks to all the parents, families and friends of our students, for putting your faith in us to take care of your children. Now, your children are the best graduates in Central Asia! Good luck!” said AUCA President Andrew Wachtel, addressing the graduates and their families with words of encouragement.

Sir James Mirrlees, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Economics, was AUCA’s keynote speaker at graduation and shared with the graduates some wisdom from his accomplished life as an academic. “Thank you for such a warm welcome,” he told the audience amidst applause, “I want to ask you: who are you? You can give a lot of answers for this question, for example ‘I am alumni of this university.’ The aim of a university education is not just to find you your dream job. Your university shapes your culture, your worldview, and your way of thinking. I hope you’ve learned to live uprightly, to think more rationally and effectively, and to find solutions by peaceful means. This is the most important part of your education. When making your way through life, never forget your university and your teachers, who bestowed this knowledge upon you.

After the speeches, the graduates received their much-anticipated diplomas. Like every other year, the graduation ceremony started with a procession on the stage with flags from more than twenty different countries. The flags represent the variety of countries AUCA faculty, staff, and students call home, a symbol of AUCA’s multi-national environment. One by one, the graduates took the stage in their cap and gowns to receive their diplomas.

Each student-turned-alum had his or her own moment of fame on the stage, shanking hands and taking pictures with AUCA President Andrew Wachtel, Vice President of Bard College, Jonathan Becker, and a faculty member from their department. The students were not shy expressing their happiness and gratitude up on stage in a number of languages.

The ceremony concluded on the steps outside AUCA’s new campus where blue and gold balloons were release as the new graduates threw their caps into the air and then set off to celebrate a university education well done.

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