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Date December 4, 2022
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Photos: Midyear Completion Celebration honors the Class of '22.5

On Saturday, Dec. 3, soon-to-be graduates and others from the Brown community gathered to recognize 235 ".5ers" who were set to complete their graduation requirements at the end of Fall 2022.

two students high fiving each other on a stage
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Each year, the Midyear Completion Celebration provides an opportunity for Brown’s “.5ers” — a nickname given to students who complete degree requirements in December — to look back on their off-the-beaten-path academic journeys. All photos: Nick Dentamaro.

students sitting in the front row of an auditorium
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A total of 235 Brown students are on track to complete their bachelor’s degree requirements at the end of the Fall 2022 semester — and many of them attended the Dec. 3 celebration.

person handing an award to another person
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Reasons for finishing studies mid-year vary widely: Some students arrive mid-study as transfer students from other institutions; some take time off to intern, volunteer or work. Sometimes academic or medical issues motivate a leave.

two students clapping and smiling at a podium
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Charlotte Scott (left) and Liliana King (right), two soon-to-be graduates, spoke about their decision to spend the Fall 2020 semester away from Brown, deviating from the traditional four-year undergraduate journey.

student cheering on as a fellow student walks by
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Another .5er, Seth Goldstein (left), compared his classmates’ creativity amid the COVID-19 pandemic to a Jewish folktale about a man who turns his grandson’s frayed blanket into a jacket, then a vest, then a tie.

women's choir singing on a stage
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The Chattertocks, one of Brown's oldest cappella groups, performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the Brown alma mater at the celebration.

saxophonist performing from sheet music
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The Brown Band greeted midyear completers and other attendees in the lobby of the Salomon Center for Teaching.

two people taking a selfie
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Many soon-to-be graduates conversed and took selfies with their favorite Brown administrators, including Dean of Admission Logan Powell (right).

brown president christina h. paxson
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University President Christina H. Paxson said called the Class of 22.5 “brilliant and dedicated" and exhorted them to work together to "change the world."

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In a Principles of Economics course at Brown University, Liliana King and Charlotte Scott learned about the concept of opportunity cost. 

“It’s what must be given up to obtain something else,” King explained. “Economically, the riskier the choice, the higher the [potential] payoff.”

In Fall 2020, the pair — both double-concentrators in economics and history — bet big on the decision to step away from Brown for a semester. King went to her hometown of Pittsburgh to run marketing operations for a chain of ice cream stores, and Scott traveled to her native London to research bonds at a new investment group. The opportunity cost: a semester away from some of their closest friends, a prolonged college journey…and a December graduation date.

Their risks paid big dividends in the end: King and Scott are among 235 Brown students who are on track to complete their bachelor’s degree requirements at the end of 2022. On Saturday, Dec. 3, the two students jointly addressed their fellow soon-to-be graduates and others from the Brown community at a Midyear Completion Celebration on College Hill. 

Each year, the celebration provides an opportunity for Brown’s “.5ers” — a nickname given to students who complete degree requirements in December — to look back on their off-the-beaten-path academic journeys. Some of them arrived mid-study as transfer students from other institutions; others took time off to work, volunteer or pursue creative projects; still others left temporarily to address health or academic issues. But, Scott noted, here they were today — on the precipice of graduation, having become stronger and more multi-dimensional people after traveling in unusual directions.

“What is the opportunity cost of a leave of absence, of choosing to be different?” Scott asked. “We chose to step outside the box. It paid off: The Class of ‘22.5 had the opportunity to organize political campaigns and create our own startups. We fished for salmon in Alaska and trained to be professional athletes.”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/C6bFZZoBuC8

Celebrating the Class of 22.5

 

On Saturday, Dec. 3, the campus community came together to cheer on ".5ers" at the Midyear Completion Celebration.

Another .5er, Seth Goldstein, compared his classmates’ journeys to a Jewish folktale about a man who turns his grandson’s frayed blanket into a jacket, then a vest, then a tie — until the blanket is just a tiny tatter that becomes too small to reuse. The Class of 22.5, he noted, had transformed a campus community frayed by the life-altering COVID-19 pandemic into something rich, strong and interconnected — something that couldn’t possibly disintegrate as the folktale’s blanket had.

“Let’s dream of a new ending to this story, one that is inspired by our friends, family and teachers,” Goldstein said. “In our version, we learn how to knit together. We have the chance to take all we have learned from building community through incredibly difficult circumstances and share it. We have the chance to transform the world, and the way we see each other, through greater empathy and care.”

Brown President Christina H. Paxson, too, called attention to the students’ inventive community-building tactics in the midst of the pandemic — an example, she said, of how “brilliant and dedicated people, working together, can change the world.

“You came together to protect each other and to protect the local community,” Paxson said, “That experience will indelibly shape your perspective [in] life going forward. You’ll treasure the fact that you can accomplish more, you can do better, be better, [because you learned how to] work together in unity for others.”

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