Beacon Grads Turn 'Mission Impossible' Into Milestone Achievement
If the doctor had been right, Charles Dion would never have uttered a full sentence. His mother heard the dire prediction when he was diagnosed with autism as a child.
Instead, Saturday, an adult Dion gave a commencement speech as Beacon College’s co-valedictorian.
“I should not be here speaking to you, according to those doctors,” Dion said. “We are the doers of the impossible through our will, our resolve, our determination and the support for those who care for us — we make the impossible possible.”
Graduating seniors, their families and Beacon faculty celebrated the graduation milestone as the college awarded 12 associate’s degrees and 60 bachelor’s degrees at its spring commencement exercises.
Commencement was held before Mother’s Day, which made for a fitting tribute as students honored their parents who fought for them along the way.
Dion’s mother took him to nine therapy sessions every week to hear Dion speak his first sentence. Dion joked it was “anti-climactic.” His first few words were about a “big wet balloon.”
But it was the start of Dion defying the odds, leading up to him graduating Saturday summa cum laude with an anthrozoology degree.
“Today is not the last day you hear that word: impossible. In the future, there will still be people who try to underestimate you,” Dion told his fellow students. “I ask you, prove them wrong.”
As tech entrepreneur Jason Eichenholz, Ph.D., received his Beacon honorary degree Saturday, he urged the class of 2025 to celebrate their differences.
“Your unique cognitive profile is not something to overcome, graduates. It’s something to leverage,” he said. “Own that difference. The world does not need more minds to think alike. It needs your unique perspective.”
He encouraged them to use their empathy and talents to lift up others. “Having navigated a world that was not designed for you, you possess a rare capacity to understand other people’s struggles,” Eichenholz said. “Create the environments you wish had existed for you.”
For him, Beacon’s mission to educate neurodiverse students graduate is deeply personal.
(Right: President George Hagerty poses with honorary degree recipients Dr. Jason Eichenholz and Roy Haley and board of trustees’ chair Dr. Dan Averbeck.)
Eichenholz, who holds more than 90 U.S. patents, is the co-founder of Luminar Technologies. Beacon College touted the company as helping “redefine autonomous vehicle safety with lidar technology.” But Eichenholz also created the nonprofit Jonathan’s Landing Foundation, named after his son who has autism. The foundation is developing communities for people with autism to live and work.
“I see a world of possibilities in each and every one of you,” Eichenholz told the seniors. “Congratulations to the class of 2025 of Beacon College. The future is waiting for exactly who you are.”
The college also awarded an honorary degree to businessman and philanthropist Roy Haley who has played a role shaping Beacon. Haley generously supported the school from student scholarships to the school’s capital expansion in downtown Leesburg.
When Haley addressed the graduates, he stressed the importance of applying known skills to unfamiliar challenges — a concept Beacon strongly promotes.
“How many of you have heard the term ‘workaround’?” he asked, explaining that this simple idea — using what you know to navigate what you don’t — became a cornerstone of his professional life.
Haley reflected on his early career, noting that while problem-solving — at which he excelled — is a valuable and marketable skill, avoiding problems through preparation is even more powerful.
“That’s called preparation. And I think most of you have learned at Beacon that you need to be prepared when you go to class. You need to have done your homework. You need to be ready to participate. And that was a big difference for me. My skill had been sitting in class absorbing — not having to work too hard in preparation …. That doesn’t work in real life. Real life is about workarounds. Lots of workarounds,” he said, contrasting it with his earlier habit of relying on passive learning.
Haley praised Beacon College for fostering this mindset, especially among students who perhaps endured past academic struggles. He acknowledged the transformative experience of being welcomed into a supportive environment and discovering how personal strengths can be applied in diverse and meaningful ways.
During Saturday’s ceremony, Beacon student leaders shared advice to their classmates. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have your life figured out right away after college, said co-valedictorian Justin Cenci. “Feeling lost can be a good sign, because it shows that you’re ready to discover something new in your life,” Cenci said. He reminded them they have nothing to prove to anyone, and success looks different for everyone.
Beacon College President George Hagerty posed with students walking across the stage in their caps and gowns to receive their degrees.
In his commissioning charge to the college’s newest alumni, Hagerty drew inspiration from two iconic American voices. “Heed the call of Henry David Thoreau, who said, ‘Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you have imagined,’” he said. “And in the spirit of Bob Dylan, may you stay forever young.”