News & Events

Vespers, a ceremony just for seniors and their parents on the night before Graduation, is a time for reflection with uplifting music and messages.

This year's keynote speaker, Kate Hofheimer Wilson '91, Associate Vice President at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, is a Bulldog through and through. She the daughter of alumni and the parent of two graduates: James '22, and Lucy, in this year's class.

Wilson spoke to seniors about the challenge of finding a meaningful professional path. After graduating from University of Virginia with a degree in art history, she explored a series of jobs, from managing a Manhattan art gallery to data analysis for an internet company during the dot-com bubble. When that bubble burst, she (like many others), was laid off.

The forced pause gave her a chance to reconsider her path: “I realized that for me, my job needed to be more than a paycheck or a place to make new friends. So I swerved. I took a turn into the nonprofit world."

That new direction brought a major pay cut, but that sacrifice was outweighed by her newfound sense of purpose.

“My meandering steps have led to my dream job, the one that I could not have envisioned when I joined the workforce," she said. “Every day I get to help people through creating and providing grants and scholarships to support community needs across the region, and it’s an amazing feeling."

She encouraged the Class of 2025 to give themselves “time to dig deeper, to get to know yourself and what truly brings you joy."