LEWISTON — Bates College graduated 460 students from 38 states and 36 countries on May 29, 2017.

Cumulatively, the Class of 2017 performed 80,000 hours of community service, exemplifying Bates’ commitment to community learning and civic action.

Geoffrey Canada, president of the Harlem Children’s Zone delivered the address at Bates’ 151st commencement ceremony on May 28. In his speech, Canada called upon the graduating class to be champions for social progress.

“My time is running out and there is so much to do. I wish I could stand before you today and say that my generation is leaving you a country that is better than the one we inherited from our parents,” Canada said. “The work we don’t complete that attempts to make this a better country, the next generation will finish it.”

Canada was joined by fellow honorands U.S. Senator Susan Collins R-Maine, Doctor of Human Letters; Patrick Dempsy, actor, philanthropist and Lewiston native, Doctor of Human Letters; and Wanda Corn ’62 art historian, Doctor of Fine Arts.

Graduates from York County include:

• Audrey Puleio of Saco

• Blake Downey of Eliot

• Cormac Walsh of Biddeford

• Robert Jones of South Berwick

• Colby Harrison of Kennebunk

• Hunter Lord of Kittery Point

• Emily Pinette of Old Orchard Beach

• Anan Ahmed of Biddeford

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates College is internationally recognized as a leading college of the liberal arts, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world. Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community.

With a commitment to affordability, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion or national origin. Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world.