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By Al Quartemont, Special to the Message
PINEVILLE – After a rather turbulent semester that brought its share of headlines, Louisiana College had the opportunity to simply celebrate its best and brightest Saturday, May 11, with the graduation of 170 students in the college’s spring commencement.
In all, 112 undergraduates, 55 masters level and three secondary students comprised the Spring 2013 class.
Among the academic standouts: Joshua Jee, an applied mathematics major from Mandeville, who completed his degree with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
“We are conferring degrees on those who will go into the world and change the world for Jesus Christ,” said LC President Joe Aguillard.
“Your diploma will give you opportunities in the future,” said Gene Lee, chairman of the LC Board of Trustees. “Take what you’ve learned and enrich those around you.”
The commencement address came from the current president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Dr. Waylon Bailey, pastor of First Baptist Church of Covington.
After relating his love for the “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon strip and the life lessons it often taught, Bailey laid out four “simple truths” for the graduates to reflect upon as they prepare to enter their next phase in life. Those truths all related to the decisions most of the students will face in the next 10 to 15 years, the commencement speaker said.
“What are you going to do with all the decisions you have to make?” Bailey asked. “What are you going to do for the rest of your life?”
The answers to those questions will have to work themselves out for students like business major Grant Medine of Gonzales, La.
A member of the LC football team, Medine said he is planning to look for a sales job in Baton Rouge while working on a masters degree in business at LSU.
“I’ve matured a lot while I’ve been here, and it’s opened my eyes to a lot of new things,” Medine said. “Just having this [degree] in my hands, it’s a warm, fuzzy feeling, to be honest.”
One of Medine’s LC football teammates, D’Marior Parker of Shreveport, celebrated becoming the first male member of his family to earn a college degree.
“I’m just filled with so many emotions right now,” Parker said. “I’m proud of myself, but I want to give all the glory to God because without Him, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
“Coach [Clay] Matchett and Coach [Dennis] Dunn really put it in my eyes that I could be something more than a football player. I took heed to that, and now I’m reaping what I sowed.”
The criminal justice major said he would still like to pursue playing football on some level, but if not, he will pursue job opportunities in Texas.
But, for a guy who did not even participate in his high school graduation – he instead earned a GED – Parker said he has already far exceeded where even he thought he might be.
“No matter what people try to label you as, no matter what people try to tell you that you can’t be, you can always be what you want to be,” Parker said.
And that may have been the best graduation thought of them all.