Oswego Alumni Magazine » Torchlight Ceremony

Video: Torchlight Ceremony speaker Yvonne Spicer ’84 M ’85

Shane M. Liebler — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:42:56 +0000

The Oswego Alumni Association welcomed Yvonne Spicer ’84, M ’85 as this year’s mistress of ceremonies at the Commencement Eve Dinner and Torchlight Ceremony May 11.

“You are deeply immersed in the digital native generation,” she told 700 students, faculty, staff and family gathered for Commencement Eve Dinner. “Many of the jobs you will have, have not been invented yet.”

Spicer is vice president of advocacy and educational partnerships for the National Center for Technological Literacy based at the Museum of Science, Boston.

‘Go be great,’ Levy tells seniors

Shane M. Liebler — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:30:58 +0000

As an ESPN anchor, Steve Levy ’87 is used to getting some of the hottest tickets around — Super Bowls, World Series, you name it. But he showed seniors at the annual Commencement Eve Dinner his “golden ticket” — saved for three decades — a letter dated March 2, 1983, confirming his admission into SUNY Oswego.

“It was Oswego that gave me the confidence and the skills to succeed in the real world, where you’re all headed Monday,” Levy told more than 750 graduating seniors, their families and friends May 13.

Steve Levy ’87, second from right, was the emcee of the Sesquicentennial Torchlight Ceremony in May. Also leading the festivities were from left, Mistress of Ceremonies Jacquelyn Costello ’11, Torchbearer Tyler Hilliard ’11, President Deborah F. Stanley, Levy, and Student Speaker Meghan Milewski ’11.

“This is your shot right now. This is your time to go out and do something you love, something you are passionate about,” Levy said at the Commencement Eve Dinner, which precedes the Torchlight Ceremony. “If you love something that you’re doing, chances are you’re going to be great at it.”

Levy got his start sportscasting at WTOP-TV and WOCR-AM as a communication studies major at Oswego. He joined ESPN and became an anchor on the network’s flagship SportsCenter program in 1993.

“I know all of you will make us, the alumni, very proud,” he said. “So I leave you with this: Get out of here. Go be great at whatever you’re great at and achieve your happiness.”

No. 18 – Torchlight Ceremony

Michele Reed — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:26:28 +0000

Ever since it was instituted to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the college, the Torchlight Ceremony has been a tradition on the eve of Commencement. Written by Lida S. Penfield, for whom Penfield Library is named, the “Message of the Torch” welcomes graduates into the Oswego Alumni Association.

Originally held around the statue of Founder Edward Austin Sheldon on the lawn of the building that bears his name, as in the 1938 ceremony pictured here, Torchlight has grown so large it now fills a tent to the north of the Campus Center. Despite changes over the years, the ceremony’s core remains the same: Light from the Torch of Learning is passed from the faculty and alumni of Oswego to the graduating seniors on the eve of their Commencement.