Haley Anne Kerrigan of Bainbridge Island has been awarded a bachelor of arts degree in physics and mathematics at Connecticut College.

Kerrigan was one of the 450-plus students from the Class of 2015, representing nearly three dozen countries, who crossed the stage on Tempel Green to receive their diplomas from Connecticut College President Katherine Bergeron.

During the ceremony, the graduates followed long-held college traditions, including passing through a laurel chain held by members of the junior class and carrying saplings that symbolize a continuing connection to the college.

Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, producer and playwright, delivered the keynote address. Schlosser, who is known for investigative journalism that exposes issues ignored by mainstream media — from the fast food industry to the plight of migrant workers to the possibilities of nuclear disaster — told the graduates that they are part of a generation that was programmed to succeed from an early age, in a world in which corporations have never been bigger; mass media has never been “more centralized, more docile or more toothless;” and the government has never had a greater ability to track and predict our every movement.

But all those systems of control are fallible, and the cracks lead to great opportunity, the author of “Fast Food Nation” and “Reefer Madness” told the graduates.