CLASS OF 2024 COMMENCEMENT

On Saturday, May 25, the 64 members of the Class of 2024 became Randolph-Macon Academy’s newest graduates.

Brigadier General Wesley addressed the audience of graduates, faculty, families, and friends, welcoming them to his “favorite day of the school year...Our seniors have made it...here they are to accept the most valuable credential we can convey -an R-MA diploma - ready to go on to lives of meaning and success.”

He acknowledged the hard work the Class of 2024 put into the developing the new Corps of Cadets under the Character and Leadership Development Program. “Their work is a genuine and lasting legacy for the cadets who will follow in their footsteps...this class will be able to say for all time, ‘We built it, and we charted the path first.’”

In conclusion, he welcomed all to “celebrate a moment that will forever signal the closing of one door...and the opening of so many more.”

Class of 2024 Valedicatorian Carver Bull: “Stand back up.”

Following General Wesley, Valedictorian Carver Bull ‘24 began with remarks on how R-MA has changed since his arrival on campus in 2020.

“Like the ship of Theseus, this boat feels totally different from when we first embarked on our journey...It’d be selfish and hypocritical to want to keep everything the same forever. In fact, all of these changes are good, and it’s a good thing that we’re leaving, because the wheels of progress progress...to never leave, never change, never evolve would be a tragedy.”

Reflecting on what he’s learned during his time at R-MA, he said, “Giving up is not natural. Apathy is an abomination. You have to challenge yourself in order to evolve and become a better person, because you’re meant to rise up to every challenge. You’re meant to fail. You’re built to fail, but that’s how we get stronger.”

He concluded by urging his classmates: “The battle is ahead of you, and it always will be. Victory will always feel just out of reach, but despite that, persevere. Stand up to every challenge that comes your way. Stand back up every time you’re knocked down, because that’s what the Power of Rise is all about.”

Dr. Stephen Mansfield on Overcoming Adversity

General Wesley introduced keynote speaker Dr. Stephen Mansfield, New York Times best-selling author, entrepreneur, and popular speaker on topics including leadership, manhood, and a host of other contemporary issues. Dr. Mansfield’s focus for the Class of 2024: how enduring and overcoming hardship and adversity builds character.

The Class of 2024, he noted, endured more challenges than most, first with the COVID-19 pandemic, and then in developing the new Corps of Cadets under the Character and Leadership Development Program, and the ongoing difficult political and economic climate. “If you’re watching this class closely, they are not normal,” he said. “These people have walked through an exceptional high school career because they are called, they are chosen, they are destined to be exceptional people.”

He recalled some of the great leaders of history who became so because they endured and overcame incredible hardship and adversity, including Winston Churchill (“A mess? Yes. Greatness? Yes, because that’s how it works.”), and John Wesley (“A great man, he preached the Gospel all over the British Isles...they tried to kill him.”).

“When I look out upon this class,” he continued, “I think of them in terms of future heroes who are being fashioned now by the hardship and the difficulty...what you’ve got to do is kick those hardships in the teeth. Remember what R-MA taught you. Remember what you learned here...go forth and live the R-MA legacy in its fullest possible sense. Know that hardship will come, and that you will be propelled by it.”