President Takayasu Mitani delivered the commencement address, telling the graduates, “I hope all of you will continue to learn throughout your lives about the subjects you have been studying at J. F. Oberlin. Our founder, Reverend Yasuzo Shimizu, believed in the ideal of gakuji jijin: learning for others’ sake. I hope all of you will uphold this ideal and learn for the good of society.” He also reminded them, “Ms Arina Sato, who passed away in the tsunami following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake three years ago, would have graduated with you.”