WINGATE, N.C. – The keynote speaker May 14 at Wingate University’s 120th commencement said he was giving one final assignment to the 2016 graduates.
“Change the world,” James Ford said. “Leave this place in better shape than you found it.”
Ford said his assignment to change the world would be due upon the graduates’ “expiration,” and he stressed that he would not be the one doing the grading.
“Someone else will be responsible for that,” he joked.
The graduates he spoke to were part of a record-breaking class. Nearly 700 degrees were conferred to students from Wingate’s three campuses – the most in the school’s 37-year history as a four-year institution. The commencement ceremony was also the first at Wingate University presided over by a Wingate alumnus, President Rhett Brown.
Of Wingate’s class of 2016, 58 percent earned bachelor’s degrees and 42 percent earned a master’s or doctoral-level degree.
Ford has experience giving assignments to students. While teaching for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, he was North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year in 2014, the same year in which he completed an educational leadership program offered by Wingate University’s graduate education program.
His speech focused on the importance of knowledge, which he said is a gift from teachers to students and a light to a help solve society’s problems.
“Let your light shine so the whole world can see,” Ford said. “Don’t put it under a bowl or keep your gift to yourself, but spread your knowledge and talents around so that all those who come in contact with you are made better from it.”
Aaron Shaver, who came to Wingate in 2009 as an undergrad from Bethel, Delaware, graduated with a doctor of pharmacy degree. He and his wife, Sadie Freeman Shaver, a 2013 graduate, met at Wingate and had their wedding reception on campus in 2014.
“We’re such big fans of Wingate,” Shaver said. “It feels like Wingate is finally kicking me out.”
Patrick Jakeway of Huntersville was awarded his MBA on Saturday, after attending classes at Wingate’s Ballantyne campus.
“I thought I was in it for the sheepskin, but later I realized I was in it for the knowledge,” Jakeway said.
Honorary doctorates were awarded to James Furman Sr. of Boone, N.C., a member of the University’s Board of Trustees since 1998, and to Craig Horn of Weddington, N.C., a member of the state’s House of Representatives.
Three faculty members were honored with awards for excellence in teaching. The Debra O’Neal Award was presented to assistant professor of history Steven Hyland of the Wingate campus, the Charles and Hazel Corts Award was given to assistant professor of speech communication Larry Coleman of the Wingate campus, and assistant professor of pharmacy Shawn Taylor of the Hendersonville campus was named the Graduate and Professional Faculty Member of the Year.
The H.K. Helms Award for scholastic honor was given to six undergraduate students: Emma Detomo of Durham, N.C.; Marguerite France of Ledyard, Conn.; David Prevette of Charlotte; Nelly Dimov of Mooresville, N.C.; Emily Hatley of Stanfield, N.C.; and Nolan Vaughan of Waxhaw, N.C.
“Your lives have been changed forever because of your experiences here, and so our lives have been changed by your presence,” Brown said in the final charge to graduates. “The very best way to make us proud is to invest in others, the way you have been invested in here.”