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Click here for photos from July Commencement Lance urges Piedmont graduates to 'change other's lives' One sign of the growth of Piedmont College in recent years is that the summer graduation held July 22 was larger than the traditional spring commencement of just six years ago. Some 328 students earned degrees at the end of the summer semester. Added to the 537 students who graduated this past spring, the Class of 2006 now totals some 865 new alumni. The summer graduates include 42 students who earned bachelor's degrees and 123 who earned master's degrees in education. Seven students received master of business administration degrees, and 156 current teachers earned education specialist degrees. While the temperature outside may have been a little warmer than during the spring graduation in May, inside the excitement ran just as high as students awaited the awarding of diplomas by Piedmont President Ray Cleere and Board Chairman Thomas "Gus" Arrendale. As each name was called, family and friends in the Mize Athletic Center rose in recognition of their achievement. Bert Lance, a native of Gainesville and longtime northwest Georgia banker, delivered the commencement address. Lance served as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation and was director of the U.S. Office of Mangement and Budget during the Carter administration. He is currently a trustee of Young Harris College, where his father once served as president. Lance told the new graduates that they each have certain things in common. "You have a degree from Piedmont College that will prove immeasurably valuable to you over the years," he said. "You have a mind and the ability to use it, and you've been trained well. You have the ability to dream about what you want to accomplish in your lives. And you have the ability to change other people's lives." Noting that many of the graduates were education majors, Lance said, "Teachers have more influence than most anyone else."Quoting historian David McCullough, Lance said, "'Every one who’s ever lived has been affected, changed, shaped, helped, hindered by other people. We all know, in our own lives, who those people are who’ve opened a window, given us an idea, given us encouragement, given us a sense of direction, self-approval, self-worth, or who have straightened us out when we were on the wrong path. Most often they have been parents. Almost as often they have been teachers. Stop and think about those teachers who changed your life, maybe with one sentence, maybe with one lecture, maybe by just taking an interest in your struggle. Family, teachers, friends, rivals, competitors – they’ve all shaped us.'" "I hope," Lance said, "that as productive citizens of our state and nation, you will kindle fires that others may warm by and you will dig wells that others may drink." -30- |
