By Message Staff
ALEXANDRIA – Louisiana College bestowed degrees to 114 graduates and awarded Pineville Mayor Clarence Fields an honorary doctorate for public administration during its commencement May 6 at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria.
The school gave 33 students degrees with honors, seven as cum laude with a 3.5 GPA, 15 as magna cum laude with a 3.7 GPA, seven as summa cum laude with a 3.9 GPA, and four graduated with a 4.0 GPA.
“I can say with confidence that these young people are the leaders of the 21st Century,” noted Brewer, referring to LC’s entire Class of 2017.
Before Fields’ keynote address, Brewer read a resolution noting the mayor’s leadership, civic commitment and numerous accolades, noting the school has a wonderful relationship with the city of Pineville.
In his keynote address, Fields challenged the graduates to be servant leaders.
“In today’s world traditional leadership is about my goal, my dream, my vision, my ideas,” he said. “But servant leadership is bout empowering others. And it’s about a jointly owned dream and vision and it celebrates the ideas of others. Servant leaders are more others focused than me focused.”
Fields encouraged the graduates to follow the greatest example of a servant leader – Jesus Christ.
“Living like Jesus is about giving yourself when you don’t have to,” he said. “It’s about lovingly serving not just your friends but the one who’s about to deny you, even the one who’s about to abandon you, even the one who’s about to walk out of the room to betray you.”
Addressing her classmates and others in the audience, graduate Caitlyn Sanders said her friends, staff and professors at LC have demonstrated the true picture of grace.
“They have been the ones to walk alongside me and weep with me, to encourage me and to point me back to the grace that flows from the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” she said. “They have also been the ones to challenge me to pursue academic excellence and opportunities that I never thought were possible.”
