By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Bowling Green State University President Rodney Rogers challenged the 2025 graduating class to continue their journey of creating public good.
“We believe this Bowling Green State University degree comes with a responsibility to contribute to the public good, not only by being successful in your career and life but by contributing intentionally to that community you will be joining in this next journey,” Rogers said during the Saturday morning commencement ceremony for 349 bachelor’s and associate degree recipients.
He praised the graduates for the engagement they showed during their time on campus. Through student life and signature co-curricular activities, BGSU students logged 94,701 community service hours over the past four years and raised more than half a million dollars in the past year to support nonprofit organizations.
The president also shared some additional statistics, more fun facts than academic achievements.
“I’m proud to report that our graduates and their classmates have spent a great deal of time studying and studying takes fuel,” Rogers said. “BGSU dining tell me that our graduates ate a lot. The Starship Robots had 511,470 deliveries. And Starbucks tells me they served 647,171 drinks over the last four years.”
Additionally, students “consumed 325,987 terabytes of data on the university’s WiFi” working in Canvas, the digital hub for everything related to course materials, assignments and class communications, and most likely also streaming on Hulu, Netflix, etc.
Dr. Ravi Krovi, new provost and senior vice president, recognized some of the academic accomplishments of the graduating class.
Ninety-eight students received degrees with Latin honors, including summa cum laude for a grade point average of 3.9 or higher, magna cum laude for a 3.75 GPA and cum laude for at least a 3.5 GPA.
“A select group of 11 students had the distinction of receiving the President’s Award for having a perfect 4.0 grade point average,” Krovi said.
Beta Kappa Phi and Phi Kappa Phi honors were announced by Honors College Dean Morgan Simon-Russell. The five graduates maintained a 3.5 GPA or higher in all of their coursework and completed designated coursework and an honors project.
“The value of the BGSU degree you’re about to receive has never been higher,” Rogers told the graduates. High rankings for the student experience and students saying they would choose BGSU again, is a sign of the university’s great momentum.
“The momentum we are having today is not because of any one thing or any single individual,” he said. “It’s because of many working together, taking action and pushing us forward.”
Faculty, staff and students are all part of the momentum.
“Our experiences are meaningful and bold, inside and outside the classroom. I hope you will be empowered to do good,” he said. “A public university for the public good is more than a tagline; it’s our mantra, and it’s absolutely our promise.”
He urged the graduates to be curious, remain bold and be kind along their path to create good as a BGSU graduate.
“Curiosity is the foundation of learning. And it often begins with a question,” he said. “It’s even more important in this rapidly evolving world of AI (artificial intelligence) where memorizing and recalling facts simply isn’t as important as it once was.”
Individual learning continues to be important because AI only know what already has been asked and learned.
“When you are curious, bold, and kind, if you do those things, you will actually do really well in life. You will do very well, but you will also do good,” he said.
The university held a separate ceremony Friday evening for 363 master’s degree and 102 doctoral degree recipients.
Falcon legacy skipped a generation
One family, who has roots in Wood County, celebrated a family legacy at Saturday’s celebration when Emma Adler received a bachelor’s degree in business from BGSU.
While the legacy of the Adler family may not be as long as other Falcon families, it is just as celebrated. It started with grandfather Henry (Hank in the BGSU Key Yearbook), who graduated with an education degree in 1958 and taught at Owens Community College.
Born and raised in Custar, Henry unknowingly planted a seed that skipped a generation. None of his children—Doug, Amy and Beth—chose BGSU for their college education. But all three of Doug’s children ended up at Bowling Green, though no one lived in Ohio.
Kaitlyn was the first to choose BGSU. She was living in Arizona when she decided to head east to her grandfather’s alma mater. Though Henry died in 1989 when she was just a year old, there was still a connection when it came time to choose a college.
She wanted a school with a strong special education curriculum, which BGSU checked that box. At BGSU, she would also be close to her grandmother, Wilma Adler, who was a nurse with the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities for 20 years.
During Kaitlyn’s sophomore year at BGSU, she lived in Rogers Hall, the same residence hall her grandfather lived in. It was torn down a year later, which meant her brother, Kellen, and her sister, Emma, would not have that same tie to their grandfather.
Her siblings both ended up at BGSU. Kellen, who lived in Michigan at the time, wanted to major in special education like his big sister and also play football. BGSU gave him those opportunities.
Because Emma had seen the positive experiences her older siblings had at BGSU, she was “definitely influenced by my siblings, along with the great programs and awesome downtown,” she said. However, her interest was not in education but business.
Kaitlyn is a 2017 graduate, now starting her 12th year as a special education teacher at Crim Elementary School in Bowling Green. Kellen, who graduated in 2023, is a special education teacher in Michigan, and Emma will start a sales job in Detroit after Labor Day.
To expand the legacy a bit further, Kaitlyn’s husband, TJ, is also an alumnus. He joined her from Arizona and earned a BGSU degree in criminal justice, making them Falcon Flames.
“It’s just been a neat, sentimental experience since my grandpa went there,” Kaitlyn said. “And it has been a special thing for my dad, too.”
Doug was a 1978 graduate of Bowling Green High School and maintains close ties to his graduating class, whose class gift was the bobcat statue in front of the high school.
“Now he tells people, ‘If I had told my kids they were all going to go to the same school where I grew up, they would have laughed in my face,” Kaitlyn said about her father. “But we all kind of found our way back here to go to school and have all had great experiences at BGSU.”
