Dawn Marie Rossignol, you ought to be sitting among your classmates today, already a little bit nostalgic for Colby but also looking forward to the life for which your experiences and education prepared you. The first member of your family to attend college, you came to Colby with a resume that presaged the success to come on Mayflower Hill. You were valedictorian of your high school class, a member of the National Honor Society, and a National Merit semifinalist. You played in the jazz, pep and All-State bands, were a member of the math team and the foreign language club, attended Girls State and won a Maine Principals Association award. As a George Mitchell Scholar at Colby, you exemplified the qualities of hard work and intellectual resourcefulness the Mitchell program seeks to support. A Dean’s List student majoring in biology, you were, as one Colby faculty member said, “the type of student professors love to teach.” Quietly self-confident, you had a deep talent for friendship, and you made an impression on those fortunate enough to know you. Butler University in Australia, where you studied during your junior year, has established a scholarship in your name for Colby students. The Albany College of Pharmacy was looking forward to welcoming you as a student this fall. Your Colby professors and friends hoped to delight with you in the further blooming of your potential. The Class of 2004, forever diminished by your absence, is nevertheless blessed to have called you its own.

By the authority of the Board of Trustees of Colby College, I confer upon you, Dawn Marie Rossignol, the degree of Bachelor of Arts, honoris causa. This diploma, which I place in your parents’ hands, is a visible symbol of your membership in this society of scholars, to all the rights and privileges of which I declare you entitled.

Conferred May 23, 2004