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Final Finlandia class graduates

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Stephen Nikander, a Finlandia University trustee and a direct descendant of the university’s first and fifth presidents, welcomes the crowd at the start of Sunday’s commencement ceremony.

HANCOCK — Finlandia University’s final graduating class walked the stage Sunday afternoon in a commencement ceremony at Hirvonen Hall.

Ninety-seven students received degrees in the spring commencement ceremony.

Finlandia announced in March the university would be closing at the end of the semester.

Trustee Stephen Nikander, whose great-grandfather founded what was then Suomi College, said people are defined by how they respond to adversity.

“This is not a funeral,” he said. “Commencement means beginning. As your post-collegiate lives begin, know that you received a unique valuable learning experience here.”

Garrett Neese/DMG At left, Marissa Schilling, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, becomes the last Finlandia University graduate to walk across the stage during Sunday’s commencement ceremony.

The student speaker, Kaitlyn Lundeen, graduated with a healthcare management degree. She was a member of Finlandia’s Sampo Society for high academic achievers, and also holds multiple records on the university’s basketball team.

She and her teammates showed “sisu” in committing to a nearly winless team and building it up. And every Finlandia student understands sisu in a way their peers who went to larger colleges never could, Lundeen said.

“They had the opportunity to use the newest equipment and never had to get creative with what they had,” she said. “They never had to take a six-hour bus ride through snowstorms or bus breakdowns or crashes while taking an exam or writing a paper … we hope that we can find these memories to look back on and tell future generations what it meant to be Lions. Stories that we can tell, some may think we’re exaggerating about — but in all honesty, they’re probably true.”

Finlandia President Timothy Pinnow acknowledged all students had overcome — first a year-and-a-half of college during the pandemic, then dealing with the knowledge that their university was closing. In the middle of it, he was struck by how many students stopped to ask him how he was doing.

“Now, graduates, all of us are now graduates of Finlandia University,” he said. “Go out into world that needs you. Tell people about the values about of this place and the people you met. Live those values.”

Garret Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Above, Finlandia University graduating seniors listen to the benediction from campus pastor Sarah Semmler Smith at the end of Sunday’s commencement ceremony.

Commencement speaker Tom Boldt, CEO of construction management firm The Boldt Company, told students not to think of themselves as the final class, but as Finlandia’s greatest class — people who will save lives, start businesses and raise families.

As someone in construction, he said, he knows the most important thing about buildings is what goes on inside them.

“I hope you will have opportunities to return to Hancock and see the buildings where you lived and learned,” he said. “Some of them may not be around the next time you visit, but I’ll bet you will remember what you did inside them with the people who are part of this greatest class.”

As each student was called, they shook Pinnow’s hand before receiving their diploma and holding it up for family.

As Finlandia’s school song played at end of the ceremony, students proceeded to the adjoining gym, where they posed for pictures.

Garrett Neese/DMG Finlandia University’s student representative Kaitlyn Lundeen, who graduated with a degree in healthcare management, addresses the crowd at Sunday’s commencement ceremony.

Logan Latvis graduated with an associate’s degree in physical therapist assistance. From his experience as a basketball player for Finlandia, he said his biggest takeaway is “embodying the word ‘sisu,'” by maintaining consistency through the ups and downs.

Being part of the university’s last graduating class was a “surreal moment,” he said.

“It’s bittersweet in a way, knowing that after 126 years it’s coming to an end,” he said. “But it’s definitely like I how i imagined it.”

Latvis will finish his summer classes for physical therapy to take his national exam in July and begin working as a physical therapist assistant. He will then start a final year at Michigan Technological University in the fall.

The final student to cross the stage Sunday was Marissa Schilling, who graduated with a degree in nursing.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Finlandia University President Timothy Pinnow addresses students at Sunday’s commencement ceremony.

“I never thought it would come to be the last graduating class, but it feels good,” she said. “Like they were saying, it’s not an ending, but a new beginning.”

Schilling has already lined up a nursing job downstate.

Her Finlandia experience gave her people she’ll cherish for the rest of her life, she said. A soccer player at Finlandia, she said what she’ll remember most are the trips with the team.

“All those together, I’ve built up some good memories,” she said.

As for graduating, she called it “a huge relief.”

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Finlandia University’s student representative Kaitlyn Lundeen, who graduated with a degree in healthcare management, addresses the crowd at Sunday’s commencement ceremony.

“It’s definitely a new milestone, and I can’t wait for the opportunities to come,” she said.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Commencement speaker Tom Boldt, CEO of construction management firm The Boldt Company, addresses Finlandia University students at the university’s final commencement ceremony Sunday.

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