Bagpipers Jon Shell, nearest camera, and Scott McLeod (mostly obscured) perform music as members of the Tusculum College faculty file in before them at the beginning of commencement ceremonies Saturday at Tusculum College. The Alpine Arena was filled for the event. (Tusculum College photo)

Tusculum confers degrees on 282 in Saturday ceremony

Challenged by the campus chaplain to "see Christ in everyone you meet, and be Christ to everyone you meet," and encouraged by the college's president to go forward and make a positive difference in their individual worlds, 282 students were graduated Saturday (Dec. 14) in ceremonies at Tusculum College.

An estimated 2,500 people, including graduates, filled the Alpine Arena in the Niswonger Commons building on a chilly Saturday morning to see both undergraduate and graduate degrees presented to the graduates.

Thirty-eight of the graduates were Bachelor of Arts students from the Residential College, 160 were bachelor of science students from the Professional Studies program for working adult students, 66 received master's degrees in education, and 18 received master's degrees in organizational management.

To the music of bagpipers Jon Shell and Scott McLeod, Professor Emeritus of Art J. Clement Allison, college marshal, led the processional into the arena, where President Dr. Dolphus E. Henry convened the ceremonies. Accompanied by organist James Winfree, Jill Jones of the Tusculum College admissions staff led the assembly in singing "Be Thou My Vision," with scripture reading by Allison following.

In his sermon "The Christ Within," the Rev. Dr. Stephen R. Weisz, chaplain and associate professor of religion at Tusculum College, encouraged the graduates to allow Christ to "live within our everyday lives."

Life is improved when individuals look for the "highest and best" in everyone they encounter, Dr. Weisz said. This is most challenging, however, when those encountered are "difficult, irritable, and even quite troublesome."

Relating an anectdote from his long experience in campus ministry, Dr. Weisz noted that he has many times come to see Christ most clearly in students who initially seemed indifferent or even hostile to his own beliefs. "I urge you to see Christ in everyone you meet, including those who seem the most unlikely," he said.

In turn, Christians should also seek to reflect Christ's life in own lives, Dr. Weisz said. He referred to the famous old RCA company emblem, entitled "His Master's Voice," that portrays a dog seated before an old-fashioned record player. That image, Dr. Weisz noted, is a good representation of how God's voice can be heard through imperfect human beings, even if human

imperfection sometimes adds "some distortions" to that voice.

After degrees were conferred to the graduates by Dr. Henry and Provost Dr. Jonathan R. Franz, Dr. Henry gave his customary charge to the graduates, urging them to follow the example of earlier graduates in building better communities and a better world.

Also speaking briefly to the graduates was Peggy Brewer, president of the Tusculum College Alumni Association. After the singing of the Alma Mater, led by Jones, and a benediction from Dr. Weisz, the new alumni marched out of the arena into a cold and overcast day, with flurries of snow falling.