Michael Kim, the anchor for ESPNEWS, the 24-hour sports news network for ESPN, and contributor as an anchor to ESPN SportsCenter, will be this year’s commencement speaker for the 172 graduating seniors at Westminster College. Commencement exercises will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, May 3, in Champ Auditorium on the Westminster College campus.
A native of Fulton, Kim earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science and business administration from Westminster in 1987, followed by a master of arts degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia.
His first job as a sports reporter was for KOMU-TV in Columbia in 1990 and he went on to work for NewsChannel 8 in Springfield, VA, covering local sports in the Washington, D.C. area. He also captured an award from the National Association of Black Journalists for Best Sports Feature.
Kim lives in East Haven, CT with his wife Marleen and son Matthew.
He will be presented with an honorary degree by Westminster President Dr. Barney Forsythe.
Other commencement activities will include the presentation of other honorary degrees, the Outstanding Faculty Award, and the Senior of the Year Awards.
Following commencement exercises, graduates will participate in The Columns ceremony, one of the oldest and most revered traditions at Westminster. This ceremony symbolizes a student’s entrance and farewell to the College. Following Convocation during New Student Week, the new students, led by faculty and staff in a procession, make their way up The Hill where they pass through The Columns to enter the campus for the first time and are officially welcomed into the Westminster community. Then, at Commencement, the graduates once again pass through The Columns to pursue their future in the real world.
Except for these two occasions, Westminster students never pass through The Columns. Both ceremonies are led by the Skulls of Seven, a secret honorary leadership society on campus comprised of seven outstanding students.
The Columns themselves are all that is left of Westminster Hall, the original administration building, which burned in a fire in 1909. The Columns Ceremony was initiated at the suggestion of Rev. Addison A. Wallace for the opening Convocation in 1929.