Springfield College graduate Joshua Schupack, a Warwick native – Toll Gate High School graduate, 2005 - who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the college in 2009, delivered the address at the college Baccalaureate ceremony May 17.

Baccalaureate is an annual Springfield College tradition held on the day before the undergraduate commencement to honor the graduating senior class. It is a student-led ceremony designed to celebrate the spirit, mind, and body.

“Class of 2014, it is a great honor and privilege to have a chance to speak with today,” said Schupack, who also earned a graduate degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Springfield College in 2012. “Four years seems like a long time, but I am sure that it can feel like only yesterday that you all stood on Abbey Green screaming chants as loud as you can with the Class of 2011 leading you during New Student Orientation. In the time since then, it has been incredible to see you all grow into strong, confident, and successful leaders.” 

Schupack is the sports and teen director for the YMCA of Greater Nashua. He went on to talk about the importance of relationship building, humility, and stressed the importance of individuals using the gifts and talents they possess when preparing to be a leader in service to humanity. 

“There is a responsibility that comes with the gifts you all possess,” said Schupack. “You have all been given a privilege; to attend college and gain knowledge, information, and experiences that others can only dream about. I know there have been times that have been hard and required you to reach deep down inside you to overcome. Even with all of those times, the people and powers that you have acquired with the individuals who sit to your right and left are what make you a leader today.”

 Honoring the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s commencement speech at Springfield College, Schupack went on to quote King when stressing the importance of seizing a character defining moment when it presents itself. 

“Dr. King asks us to not be asleep during a defining moment of character, and I quote, ‘Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive and insurgent forces of irrational emotionalism and social stagnation. And so we must help time, and realize that the time is always right to do right.’”

Schupack concluded with, “I can’t wait to see the work you all will do and the impact you leave on the world, because now the world is your campus, lead it in service.”