TWC ARCHES Fall 2012

L
ast May’s 155th Commencement started with a Thursday evening Nurse Pinning
Ceremony in Knoxville and concluded with a Saturday morning Commencement
service where more than 230 students celebrated their graduation and received their degrees.
Held in McMinn County High School’s gymnasium because of inclement weather, the
graduates were cheered on by more than 5,000 family members, friends and college faculty
and staff.
The commencement celebration was complete with dazzlingly decorated caps and excited
cheers from proud parents and relatives who watched their student walk across the stage and
accept their diploma.
A message of hope and inspiration to this year’s TWC graduates was delivered by Commencement
Speaker Dr. Claude Pressnell, Jr., president of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and
Universities Association, and Baccalaureate Speaker Dr. Rev. Joseph Eldridge, a university
chaplain and adjunct faculty in the School of International Service at American University.
Eldridge’s speech from Friday evening’s Baccalaureate emphasized the power of love in the world
and in the graduate’s futures.
“You are heading into a world that needs you,” said Eldridge, a 1967 graduate of TWC. “A world in
which civility and community are shattered, a world in which justice is denied to so many, a world
fervently in need of help, a world longing for people to demonstrate the love that you have come
to know. You can do it. You are up to the task.
“You’re the ones we have been waiting for. You’re the ones you’ve been waiting for. You are the
light of the world. A world in which people think they possess all kinds of knowledge but are
lacking in the knowledge of the one thing that can actually transform communities and give hope
to the world: love. That love is something you have. That love is something you know. And in
the end, that love is all you need.”
Pressnell’s Saturday morning Commencement speech echoed Eldridge’s emphasis on the
importance of love and compassion and the role that they both can play in the lives of the
students’ and the communities and world that they are entering as college graduates.
The graduates were encouraged by the speakers and college faculty to be committed to
bettering their communities and living lives of fulfillment. They answered that call of
responsibility with excited cheers, hopeful smiles and a sigh of relief that they can finally
check their bachelor’s degrees off of their life to-do list.
As the graduates looked forward to life on the
other side of their academic degrees, Pressnell
advised them that the on-going pursuit of knowledge
does not end once academic study concludes.
“You thought you were done but you’re not done,” said
Pressnell. “You’re going to be pursuing knowledge your
whole life. You will not completely understand that which
you have studied until you have a broader understanding of
the human experience around you.”
Townsend Awards
Grant Beeler and Karessa Cunningham
Honored for Retirement
Dr. Sam Roberts and Dr. Joyce Baker
The Harry Steadman Award
Dr. Sam Roberts and Dr. Stella Roberts
The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
Jeff Cunningham (pictured left)
The Mary Mildred Sullivan Award
Jerri Bryant (pictured right)
The Athens Area Chamber
of Commerce Awards
Ashley Yell
The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
Gray Wattenbarger (pictured left)
The Mary Mildred Sullivan Award
Merriam Krahala (pictured right)
www.twcnet.edu 7