December 2018 Graduates are Encouraged to “Bring Their Faith to the Marketplace”

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/DOuuEeLBTSk”][vc_column_text]Faculty, staff, trustees, families, and friends came together to celebrate the 73 graduates receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees on Saturday, December 15, 2018.
University President, Dr. Todd Williams, opened the ceremony with prayer. He was then followed by Ruth Naomi Floyd, director of jazz studies, singing “My Tribute” by A. Crouch and Tammy McComb G’18 reading about the Christian’s role of the salt and light of the earth in Matthew 5:13–16.
This Fall 2018 graduating class reached substantial academic achievement. Of the 73 graduates, 34 students received master’s degrees, and 17 undergraduate/dual-level students received Latin honors for maintaining a GPA of 3.5 or higher. The class salutatorian was elementary/middle level education 4–8 major Amanda Good ’18 (3.90) and the valedictorian was music education major Linda Taylor ’18 (3.91).
After all the degrees were awarded, Dr. Williams introduced this semester’s commencement speaker, Rob Maaddi. Rob is multi-media personality who has covered the NFL and Philadelphia sports for The Associated Press for nearly 20 years. Rob is also the host and founder of Faith On The Field Show, a radio program that the University joined as primary sponsor in Summer 2018.
Using his own life and career as an example, Rob implored the December graduates to “bring their faith to the marketplace.”
Rob told the graduates that one way to bring their faith to their work is “by the way you respond to adversity, how you react to success, how you react to failure, and how you reflect Christ’s love.” No matter what field someone works in, to be the salt and light of the earth is “a privilege that we should be excited about.”
“If we live our lives to please God, we can achieve true peace, real joy, and real fulfillment. . . . people should be able to see Christ in you and want the peace and joy that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Congratulations, Class of 2018!