In an atmosphere filled with pride, reflection, and profound hope, Holy Cross College celebrated the achievements of its Moreau College Initiative (MCI) graduates this spring in the auditorium of the Westville Correctional Facility.
The May 21 commencement marked more than the awarding of degrees—it also served as a testament to resilience, redemption, and the transformative power of education.
A total of 16 degrees were conferred—eight Associate of Arts and eight Bachelor of Arts. The two bachelor’s degree recipients present at the ceremony, Nathaniel Dodson and Robert Payton, offered moving reflections on their educational journeys. As they and their fellow graduates crossed the stage, applause reverberated from the seats filled with current MCI students—peers who had walked alongside them through years of study and perseverance.
The Moreau College Initiative, an academic collaboration between Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame in partnership with the Indiana Department of Correction, provides incarcerated students at Westville with the opportunity to pursue a rigorous liberal arts education. Through MCI, students earn credits toward a Holy Cross College Associate of Arts degree, with the option to seek admission to a Bachelor of Arts program at Westville or, upon release, at the Holy Cross main campus. Classes are taught by faculty from both Holy Cross and Notre Dame, ensuring a rich and challenging academic experience.
“For many, this program is more than academic—it is life-changing,” said Justus T. Ghormley, Ph.D., director of the Moreau College Initiative. “Our students earn their undergraduate degrees in the most difficult of circumstances and against great odds. Many did not complete high school and, before enrolling at Holy Cross, hadn’t been in school in more than a decade. Through ardent tenacity, humility, and prayer, these students redeem lost time, becoming educated, compassionate citizens ready to make a difference in society.”
Michael Chaney, who completed his degree and has since been released from Westville, participated in the May 17 Holy Cross commencement ceremony on the College’s main campus in Notre Dame, Indiana.
“Coming from the prison environment to being released and walking at graduation here on campus—it’s just more than what words could say,” Chaney reflected.
He described the MCI program as a brotherhood, where students encouraged one another to grow and persevere.
“It exposed a lot of things that I didn’t know,” Chaney said of the education experience. “It opened my eyes through the critical thinking of the liberal arts to accept that not everything is cut and dry, as one might have assumed… You have to dig into it, you have to research, you have to get to the root of the different issues to find the truth of it.”
Holy Cross College President Dr. Marco J. Clark delivered the closing remarks at the Westville ceremony, calling the moment “an important milestone.”
“Every one of us in this room has a story to tell,” President Clark said. “But there is also redemption…and now you’ve written a new chapter in your book of life.”
As tassels were turned and applause rang out, the moment symbolized far more than academic achievement. It was a celebration of dignity restored, lives reimagined, and futures reclaimed—one Holy Cross diploma at a time.
“Living with the hope means trusting in God’s Providence, living in the possible, being a dreamer, expecting the extraordinary, and it means giving away and sharing that hope with others,” President Clark said. “Through your participation in this program, you have dared to hope. I want to encourage you to continue to live with this same hope as you now begin a new chapter in your lives, with a college degree in hand.