College graduates are often urged to move beyond life’s challenges and make a difference in the world. In addressing an estimated 440 fellow graduates and 3,000 faculty, family, and friends at Goodwin College’s June 6 毕业典礼, student speaker 詹姆斯•蒂尔曼 moved the audience to silence when he issued a similar challenge, one that he had already embraced on a life-changing scale.

Tillman spent more than 18 years in prison after being convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. And exactly nine years to the day after walking out of prison a free man — exonerated by new DNA evidence and the work of the Connecticut Innocence Project — he spoke before the Goodwin College Class of 2015 as their chosen student representative and the recipient of an 公共服务专业副学士学位.

“You can’t take away my smile, my joy of life, and my encouragement to others to be the best they can be,” Tillman told his classmates. “That’s what it’s all about. Love and forgiveness.”

“That’s why, as hard as it may be for you to believe, I can stand here, look you straight in the eye, and tell you that my experience in prison was a gift,” he said, “because it gave me the power of conviction. I learned that love will always be stronger than hate.”

Tillman wrote a book about his experience, 信念的力量：我的错误信念，18年的监禁，以及通过宽恕和信仰赢得的自由, a copy of which was given to each Goodwin graduate following the ceremony.

“I challenge you,” Tillman told the graduates. “I challenge you to go forth and make a difference. I love you all.”

民权活动家鲍勃·泽尔纳（Bob Zellner）也响应了这一改变世界的呼吁，泽尔纳获得了该学院的荣誉博士学位。

“This is what it’s about,” Zellner told the graduates. “This is diversity. This is about celebrating those who do the hard work.”

泽尔纳是一位著名的活动家和自由骑士，他在马丁·路德·金博士的指导下，帮助呼吁人们关注南方腹地的民权问题，目前正在从北卡罗来纳州步行到华盛顿特区，倡导在农村社区提供更好的医疗保健。

He shared advice with the graduates that he had once received from Rosa Parks: “Bob, when you see something wrong, do something about it.”

“Rise up and make a new nation,” Zellner urged the graduates.

Riverfront Recapture, Inc.前总裁兼首席执行官Joe Marfuggi也获得了荣誉博士学位，并敦促毕业生为更好的未来而工作。

“Why settle for the way things are when you can work to make things better?” he asked.

Marfuggi在河滨夺回组织工作了27年多，不知疲倦地倡导增加公众进入康涅狄格河的机会。

In echoing the thoughts of Robert F. Kennedy, Marfuggi congratulated the graduates on daring to ask, “Why not?” rather than just “Why?” and on doing the work to make themselves and their world better.

In his remarks, Goodwin president Mark Scheinberg quoted Mark Twain, telling the students that the two most important days in people’s lives are the day they’re born and the day they find out why.

“Today is the day you get to show the world your ‘Why,’” Scheinberg told the students.

The Class of 2015 valedictorian, 李Housley, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, told the graduates that despite the many roads they had all taken in their lives, they were determined to keep walking in the right direction.

“Graduates, you’re facing in the right direction,” Housley said. “Keep on walking.”