Though the exact date of the class of 2020’s full, live graduation ceremony hasn’t been set yet, Middlebury College in Vermont announced the name of its commencement speaker at a virtual senior celebration online this past Sunday, according to The Middlebury Campus.
And the name of that speaker is Jason Collins—the NBA’s first openly gay player who went on to serve on former President Obama’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and as a NBA Cares Ambassador. NBA Cares is the league’s international social responsibility program addressing social issues and creating safe spaces for kids and families in some 40 countries.
Collins will deliver a full address in person at the live ceremony later this year, says Middlebury Campus; in the meantime, he shared some encouraging words in a prerecorded video for the virtual senior celebration.
“I’m disappointed that I’m not there in person as your commencement speaker to celebrate your achievements as graduates of Middlebury College,” he said in his prerecorded, pre-commencement remarks. “We need you. Society needs you. The world needs you. Be the future leaders that we know that you can be.”
According to student-run newspaper:
Collins will also be the distinguished recipient of an honorary degree along with Judge Allison Burroughs ’83, a Federal Judge appointed by Barack Obama in 2014; Marta Casals Istomin, a renowned musician and former longtime artistic director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Ernie Parizeau, a practiced teacher of entrepreneurship and Professor of the Practice at Middlebury; and Kim Parizeau ’79, the innovative former chair of the Middlebury Board of Trustees. …
During his time at Stanford, Collins was named an All-American and to the All Pac-10 First Team as a senior. He also received the NABC Pete Newell “Big Man of the Year” Award and was chosen in the 2001 NBA Draft as the eighteenth overall pick. He then went on to play for six teams including Atlanta, Boston, the Brooklyn Nets, New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota and Washington during his 13-year tenure in the NBA.
In April 2013, Collins was featured on the cover of “Sports Illustrated” and in an exclusive through which he came out as gay. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,” Collins wrote in Sports Illustrated. “But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.” Following his announcement, Collins was featured in 2014 as one of “TIME” magazine’s “100 Most Influential people in the World” and was honored the following year with a Sports Legacy Award from the National Civil Rights Museum.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
