Mars Hill University honored 67 students who completed
their graduation requirements during the summer or fall of 2016 during its
commencement service Friday evening, December 16, 2016. The graduates included
Mars Hill's first students to receive their bachelor of science in nursing
(B.S.N.) degrees.
"Mars Hill has taught me that just living and
surviving in this world is not acceptable; we must find ways to live as part of
a world community that sees every soul and every culture as important,"
said Daniel Godfrey, a religion major from Monroe, N.C., who was one of the
student speakers on the program. Adult and Graduate Studies graduate Jessica
Anne Bolet, a business management major from Arden, N.C., also spoke; as did
Stephanie Silver Shelton of Mars Hill, N.C., who gave the invocation. Shelton
is one of the three nurses who completed the R.N. to B.S.N. (registered nurse
to bachelor of science in nursing) program through the university's new
Judge-McRae School of Nursing. (Shelton also is Mars Hill University's director
of medical services.) Music education major James Brett Anderson of
Weaverville, N.C., presented a musical selection on the euphonium.
Keynote speaker for commencement was one of the namesakes
of the nursing school, Rev. Linda Judge-McRae. Judge-McRae and her husband,
Norman McRae, made significant contributions to the effort to start Mars Hill's
nursing program. The McRaes are Mars Hill graduates who own and operate Caris
Healthcare, a hospice care provider based in Knoxville, Tenn.
Judge-McRae talked of teachers and public figures who
were influential in her life, and through their examples gave the graduating
class encouragement for their post-college lives. Quoting her high school Latin
teacher's refrain that, "The least you can do is the best that you
can," Judge-McRae challenged the students to persevere, even through
life's difficulties. "But I do know this... and I know it with great
confidence: that we worship a God of second chances, and there's a chance for
me to do my best, be my best, and give my best in the days that follow,"
she said. "And I challenge you, graduates, to do the same -- it's the
least you can do."
Nineteen students received bachelor of arts degrees, one
received a bachelor of music, 39 received bachelor of science degrees, and five
received the bachelor of social work. The graduating class includes students in
both the university's traditional undergraduate program and its Adult and
Graduate Studies program for working adults.
No comments:
Post a Comment