CELEBRATING THE CLASS OF 2022

The Ripon College Class of 2022 celebrated the 156th Commencement ceremony at Ripon College on a pictureperfect day May 15. The new graduates came together with joy, spirit and pride to celebrate a traditional ceremony after cancellations and modifications of the event during the pandemic.

The theme was “The Stories We Tell: Connecting to Our Community through Theatre.”

Honorees included:

• Brenda DeVita, artistic director at

American Players Theatre, outside of

Spring Green, Wisconsin. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

• Anne Negri Lewinthal ’03, a drama specialist in District 65 Evanston-Skokie public schools in Illinois and an awardwinning playwright for young audiences.

She received an honorary Doctor of Fine

Arts degree.

• Dr. Jeanne Lyke, a Ripon pediatrician who also has served as chair of the Green Lake

County Health Advisory Committee and as medical advisor for the Ripon Area School

District. She received the 2022 Founders’

Day Award.

• Jordan Pollard of West Allis, Wisconsin, who received the Distinguished Educator

Award. He is a fourth- and fifth-grade educator at Franklin Elementary School in West Allis and a member of the theatre directing staff for the West Allis

School District. DeVita said that theatre and story-telling build community. “There are studies that prove that after food, drink and shelter, the next most important thing necessary for a human being to survive is connection,” she said. “Community gets us through those challenging situations. Alone is a very hard place to be.”

As the graduates go out into the world, DeVita said, they need to be true to their authentic selves. “Your first job is figuring how to build you,” she said. “When you take risks and express yourself and your ideas, and when you feel seen and accepted for that, anything feels possible in that moment, and anything is.

“Confidence comes from a deep knowledge of what is true about themselves, owning that truth and being proud of it,” DeVita added. “Spend the time to actually contemplate what you know you’re good at, admit what you know you’re bad at and what is worthy about you. There’s always something worthy. You are enough. … Then you can begin to own who you are, and then you can begin to own who you want to become.”

She added, “Everybody’s afraid they’re not remarkable, but they can be. This journey of authenticity together is a sacred space and that’s what community is for. Community is that safety net that will catch you when you make mistakes.

“The world out there needs all of you. They need the real you, they need the true you. I hope you can really love your lives and that comes from loving yourself and each other. … If you stay present and open, it will be remarkable.”

The student class speaker was Sarah Elizabeth King of Superior, Wisconsin.

Interim President Andrea Young urged the graduates to remember the things that make Ripon College so special — its unique spaces, people and legacies.

“It may be too soon for you to be able to picture what your Ripon College legacy will be,” Young said. “For the last four years, you have woven your threads into Ripon’s rich tapestry as well. Believe me when I say that you are now part of a community that extends well beyond the people gathered here today. It includes the alumni who came before you — and those who are yet to be part of the Ripon experience. ...

“Part of your legacy will be what you do next with the excellent education, the lifechanging experience, you have had here. You have the opportunity, now, to go into this world and make a difference. Live a purpose-driven life. Make the changes that need making. … And those contributions you make in your communities and in the world — well, they will add to the Ripon legacy, as have the contributions of generations of alumni before you.”

Jordan Pollard Dr. Jeanne Lyke

Class speaker Sarah Elizabeth King ’22 Interim President Andrea Young

Brenda DeVita

Anne Negri Lewinthal ’03

JUST THE STATS

172

NUMBER OF GRADUATES

44

DOUBLE MAJORS

TOP MAJORS Exercise science Psychology Education Biology Politics and Government 9

PHI BETA KAPPA

21

SUMMA CUM LAUDE

(HIGHEST DISTINCTION)

24

Zachary Fischer and Director of Teacher Education Jean Rigden

38

CUM LAUDE

(DISTINCTION)

$3,007

SENIOR CLASS GIFT

70% PARTICIPATION

Honorary degree recipient finds theatre’s greatest strength is ‘connections’

Brenda DeVita, artistic director of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, has spent a lifetime in the theatre — as an actor, director and administrator.

At Commencement 2022, Ripon College recognized her with an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Commencement featured the theme “The Stories We Tell: Connecting to Our Community through Theatre.”

“The whole point and mission of theatre is to tell great stories,” DeVita says. “Stories in our lives are the ways that we connect.”

She says that in every crisis, instances of loneliness or need for community, needs have to be filled in with our experiences. “We often, when someone is having trouble, will respond, ‘I felt that way, too, when this happened to me,’” she says. “Our first instinct is to comfort them and try to understand them better by sharing our story. Studies have found that after food, shelter and water, connection is the most important thing. “Theatre offers this incredibly safe place for people to commune together. They’re safely in their seats and they’re able to watch and experience the story on stage, take in things they understand and things they’ve never experienced. I believe theatre is like a little drop of sand. Every drop of sand expands one’s understanding. That sand piles up to a tipping point, and actual change happens. That is the power of story-telling on the stage.”

American Players Theatre is one of the country’s most popular venues for theatre classics. DeVita started with the company in 1995 and has served as company manager, casting director and associate artistic director.

She says a magic thing about theatre is the communion of the audience. “I am so attuned to this massive group of humans who can all see each other and they all have an understanding as they experience the story and simultaneously as one laugh together, audibly sigh together, breathe and hold their breath together,” she says. “They are taking in someone’s stories and it’s affecting them as a connected group. We need more of these experiences in order to grow as a community and as a society.”

When artists do their job right, “some things unlock in our minds and our bodies,” she says. “There is a shifting around in someone’s heart and spirit that is not only felt, but thought about. We are aligning our inner self around something we might not know we needed.”

In theatre, she says, people are exposed to things they don’t understand and can fully consider and experience other people’s outlooks, how they are motivated and how they move through the world. “It helps us understand ourselves,” she says. “It’s a powerful way of examining ourselves and the reason we’re here, and to experience what it means to be a human being. That’s what theatre allows us to do. It creates connection, it creates community, it creates an understanding of why we need to be connected. The answer to solving our problems is connections.”

Theatre is a communal experience for Anne Negri Lewinthal ’03

Also receiving an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree was one of Ripon College’s own: Anne Negri Lewinthal ’03.

Lewinthal is a drama specialist in District 65 Evanston-Skokie (Illinois) Public Schools and has written several plays for young audiences. “With Two Wings,” published by Dramatic Publishing, received the 2014 American Alliance for Theatre and Education Distinguished Play Award, the 2010 Kennedy Center ACTF-Theatre for Young Audiences Award, was a finalist in the Bonderman Playwriting for Youth Symposium, and has been produced nationally and internationally (Japan and Taiwan).

Other plays include: “Maddie’s Fridge,” “Girls Who Wear Glasses,” “Cave Boys,” “The JunGirl Book,” “Robyn Hood, Not a Test,” “Oz: The Land That Time Forgot,” “The Transfer Student,” and “The Dancing Dog!” Two of her 10-minute plays are published by YouthPLAYS: “The Case of the Missing Rooster” and “A Portal to Fairytale Kingdom.” In 2020, Lewinthal received the Illinois Theatre Association’s Award of Excellence in Creative Drama.

She says sharing stories with young people is vital. “Sometimes, in the stories we tell young people, it is the first time they’ve ever thought about that idea. Our job as theatre creators, writers and thinkers is to give them hope. That’s one of the wonderful things about children’s theatre. The goal is always to see that light and to see hope in that story.”

She says her story ideas come from various sources — including her own imagination and adaptations of existing sources such as folk tales and fairy tales.

“The story has to have something about it that makes me curious and makes me ask questions,” she says. “When I work on that play and we share it with other people, there has to be something in the story that has a question to be asked and explored, not just something to sit and watch.

“Theatre is a communal experience. The stories we tell have the big questions and tackle the big challenges in life. It makes us feel like we’re not alone. There is that hope that we can figure things out and work with others, and a story can inspire us in real life.”

Lewinthal is originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin, and came to Ripon because of the opportunity to major in theatre and French and also participate in forensics. During a children’s theatre class with Professor Emeritus of Theatre Ken Hill, she experienced a pivotal moment to enhance her lifelong love of theatre. She later received a master of fine arts in theatre for youths from Arizona State University.

Ripon provided many pivotal moments, she says. “I stayed an additional year to get my education license because you could get certified to teach whatever you had majored in. It was another moment. I didn’t think I needed a teaching degree, but I thought I’ll just do it to have it in my back pocket.”

But that changed the course of her life. Now, she says, “I am a teacher. I am a drama teacher. There was that journey of discovering myself. I discovered playwriting, I discovered education. It all started at Ripon.”

“I am a teacher. I am a drama teacher. There was that journey of discovering myself. I discovered playwriting, I discovered education. It all started at Ripon.”

— ANNE NEGRI LEWINTHAL ’03

Where are they heading?

Here is a sampling of plans for some of our 2022 graduates

PAYTON RAHN

of Omro, Wisconsin, majored in English and politics and government with a minor in ancient, Renaissance and medieval studies. She will attend law school at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

THOMAS BIANCHI

of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, majored in business management with a minor in military leadership. He has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

GUADALUPE “LUPITA” AVILES

of Wichita Falls, Texas, majored in Spanish with a minor in studio art. She will study for a master’s degree in Latin American studies at the University of New Mexico. MOHAMMAD NAFISI BAHABADI

of Bushehr, Iran, majored in mathematics with a minor in physics. He has moved to San Francisco, California, and started a tech company to create a social e-commerce platform.

MORGAN SCHWITTAY

of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, majored in psychobiology with a minor in military leadership. She plans to train as a military police officer in the Army and then attend a physician assistant program.

IVY HOFFMAN

of Pine River, Wisconsin, majored in history and politics and government with minors in psychology and criminal justice. She plans to work and attend the FBI Academy in Stafford, Virginia. EMMA KLAIBER

of Chicago, Illinois, majored in educational studies and sociology with a minor in anthropology. She will return to Ripon in the fall to complete her student teaching and plans to teach at the elementary school level.

KEARA DUFFY

of McFarland, Wisconsin, majored in psychology with a minor in French. She will work with the Budweiser Clydesdales, traveling with the West-Coast hitch and working on the crew caring for the horses.

AUSTIN KRAUSE

of Waupun, Wisconsin, majored in physical education with a minor in health. He plans to student teach and then seek employment.

STEVEN KLIKA

of Berlin, Wisconsin, majored in elementary education with minors in psychology and English. He will be a middle school teacher working with a hands-on-based learning curriculum in Berlin.

EVAN BARBIAN

of West Allis, Wisconsin, majored in communication with a minor in sociology. He will hold an internship with the Milwaukee Brewers Community Foundation through the remainder of the major league baseball season.

BRIANNA BEMBENEK

of Campbellsport, Wisconsin, majored in chemistry-biology and psychology. She will attend the Mayo Clinic Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (MPET) Ph.D. program. KELSI MORRIS

of Dousman, Wisconsin, majored in biology with a minor in chemistry. She will attend Michigan State University to pursue a double Ph.D. in human nutrition and environmental toxicology, with a master’s in epidemiology.

OLIVIA AMBROSE

of Appleton, Wisconsin, majored in psychobiology with a minor in chemistry. She will attend Carroll University to study for a master’s degree in the nursing-direct entry program. She also will continue to work for Ripon Guardian Ambulance.

ELLIOTT HOLT

of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, majored in computer science-mathematics with a minor in business management. He will continue to help out in the community promoting mountain biking and getting more people together to enjoy outdoor activities. REN ZWASCHKA

of Mankato, Minnesota, graduated in three years with a major in economics. After an internship with JPMorgan over the summer of 2021 in New York City, she will start a full-time, two-year rotational program there in September 2022.

LINDSEY WIGAND

of West Allis, Wisconsin, majored in theatre and psychobiology. She will attend the University of Nevada-Las Vegas as a graduate assistant as she pursues a master of fine arts degree in stage management.

ABIGAIL STITGEN

of Lodi, Wisconsin, majored in chemistry with minors in English and psychology. She will attend graduate school at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry.