Though the day started with clouds and rain, skies had cleared by the time Tusculum College graduates emerged, with family, friends, and other visitors, from commencement ceremonies in the Alpine Arena of the Niswonger Commons on Saturday.

Angela Kay Wolford, left, and Susan Von Leuhrte were the students speakers in Saturday's commencement ceremonies at Tusculum College. Wolford is from Rural Retreat, Va., and Von Leuhrte is from Batavia, Ohio. (Tusculum College photos)

In ceremonies on Saturday morning, May 4, Tusculum College graduated 298 students, 60 of them Residential College students and the balance working adult students in the Professional Studies program.

Twenty-five students received Master of Arts in Education degrees. Fifty-three received Master of Arts in Organizational Management degrees. Sixty received Bachelor of Arts degrees in various disciplines. One-hundred-sixty received Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management degrees.

The ceremonies took place in the Alpine Arena in the Niswonger Commons on the campus. A crowd that filled the Alpine Arena bleachers as well as chairs set up behind the graduates' reserved area observed as President Dr. Dolphus E. Henry and Provost and Academic Vice President Dr. Jonathan R. Franz presented diplomas.

Speakers for the event were two graduating seniors. Angela Kay Wolford, a student who received her Master of Arts in Organizational Management on Saturday, spoke on behalf of Professional Studies students. Wolford is human resources manager at Kennametal Inc. in Chilhowee, Va. Susan Von Luehrte, a mass media major from Batavia, Ohio, spoke on behalf of Residential College students.

Wolford, who lives in Rural Retreat, Va., described how the Professional Studies program gave her an opportunity to continue her education while maintaining her professional and personal responsibilities. "The Professional Studies program not only gave me the opportunity to earn my degree," she said, "but the program also gave me the opportunity to form relationships that I will take with me for the rest of my life, which is the most important thing."

Von Luehrte told her fellow graduates from the Residential College that some may consider their degree simply a piece of paper. However, she said, it represents all the memories the students have formed in their years at Tusculum, recalling the changes on campus and in the world the graduates have experienced in the past four years.

Describing the Tusculum campus as a family, Von Luehrte also spoke of the loss of senior Jill Lucas last fall in a fatal traffic accident. "Some say that we lost a friend, but I feel we have gained a guardian angel," she said, encouraging the students to remember Lucas' friendship and her accomplishments.

Campus minister Dr. Steve Weisz, who delivered the sermon, challenged the graduates to give of themselves to their community generously, urging them to have the courage of Esther and not to falter in faith as Peter did when Jesus told him he could walk on water.

"You are graduating ... into a world that has becoming increasingly harsh," he said. "Compassion, tolerance, and sensitivity to others are urgently needed near and far. You will be called to create a more humane environment wherever you may live."

Peggy Brewer, president of the Tusculum Alumni Association, encouraged the graduates to "keep in touch, but more importantly keep Tusculum in your heart."

Dr. Henry, in his traditional charge to the graduates, encouraged them to follow the examples of prior Tusculum graduates in giving service to their fellow man.