Humanitarian and Nurse Alix Dorsainvil Delivered a Pre-recorded Commencement Address from Haiti; and Social Justice Advocates Alix Cantave and Charlotte Wagner Presented with Honorary Degrees
More than 1,100 students graduated from Regis College on Saturday at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston with degrees ranging from doctoral to associate levels. The 94th commencement ceremony included graduates from the Lawrence Public Schools, Regis North/Northern Essex Community College and Novartis partnerships; and online students from 46 states.
Nursing represented the largest major with 705 students graduating. Of them, 26% are bedside nurses, 54% are advanced practice nurses, and 20% are doctoral-prepared nursing faculty. Amid a national and regional nursing shortage, in the last three years, Regis has graduated more than 2,600 nursing students.
President Antoinette Hays, PhD, RN addressed the Class of 2024 with high praise. “Not only are you college graduates, you are Regis College graduates,” she said. “That really means something. It means that each of you have engaged in a journey of learning in which the university has contributed to forming your character and confidence in preparing you for a career, and more importantly, a life of meaning.”
“Never stop learning, for learning is a lifelong journey,” Hays continued. “Use the knowledge you gained at Regis to make the world a better place.”
Alix Dorsainvil ’14, a registered nurse from New Hampshire and community health care nurse in Haiti who was kidnapped during the summer of 2023 and released after 13 days in captivity, delivered the commencement address via pre-recorded video. Dorsainvil was unable to attend the ceremony in-person given the uncertainty caused by the political and security crisis that prevented her from traveling. Dorsainvil credits the skills and education she received at Regis, and the rich diversity of students and staff for allowing her to follow her dream of traveling to developing countries to help and serve others. Caring for homeless street boys while working as a community nurse in Haiti gave her the experience and comfort to face her captors and see them as humans.
“There is great freedom to be found in forgiveness and abundant love,” she said. “To the graduates who have a dream and no idea how to make it a reality, trust you have been prepared by your courses and equipped with a valuable skillset and allow the Regis’ mission to guide you to lead a life worth living.”
The university also bestowed honorary degrees on Alix Cantave, senior program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Charlotte Cramer Wagner, founder and president of Wagner Foundation, a Cambridge, MA-based foundation focusing on health equity, economic mobility, and cultural transformation.
The venue was full of family and friends who came to celebrate the graduates, including undergraduates who didn’t have a high school graduation in 2020 due to the pandemic. Senior class president Madeline Conover of West Newbury reflected on her four years at Regis and addressed her classmates with words of encouragement. “We found ways to live our mission and be of service. I challenge all of you to find ways to bring that drive for excellence into your next communities,” said Conover.
Graduate student Cassandra Colon of Pelham, NH, who graduated with a master’s in social work degree, also addressed the audience, describing her classmates as “beacons that will help guide others to find their purpose.” She called upon her fellow graduates to draw on Regis’ core values as they enter their next chapters in life post-graduation. “Regis has helped us lay the groundwork for demonstrating a moral and empathy-driven life that will help to unite others. What we do with that is up to us.”
