Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee conferred degrees upon 288 students during the University’s 106th Spring Commencement Saturday, Aug. 1.
The ceremony took place on the south lawn of Raley Chapel on the OBU campus.
Rodney A. Wilkerson from Carney was among the graduates from OBU’s Paul Dickinson College of Business earning a degree in finance.
Graduates from OBU’s Warren M. Angell College of Fine Arts included Mitchell Ryan Manlapig from Meeker. Manlapig majored in piano.
Graduates from the College of Nursing, earning a Bachelor of Science in nursing, included Devyn Rachel Siegfried from Meeker.
Levi Colton Bagwell of Meeker graduated from the James E. Hurley College of Science and Mathematics with a major in biology.
James Lankford, United States Senator from Oklahoma, delivered the address to graduates. The ceremony was moved outdoors to allow for social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Graduates embarked on a symbolic final walk across campus as OBU students before arriving in front of Raley Chapel for the ceremony. The Walk mirrors one many of the graduates took during Welcome Week as new students at OBU. The students, dressed in academic regalia, passed by OBU faculty and staff members as they proceeded to their seats.
Lankford delivered a heartfelt and inspiring address to the graduates.
“You have been equipped by God in this institution. Go fulfill your calling. Over the past several years, hundreds of people have given their time, their insight and their talent to get you equipped for life and for service. You get to choose now if you’re going to waste that gift that you were given or to do something wise with it.”
OBU President Dr. Heath A. Thomas presided over the ceremonies and delivered the charge to graduates.
“My prayer for you is that you would allow the Lord Jesus unmitigated permission to work through your life so that our world might be changed. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently. You are fundamentally agents of change and transformation for good in our world.”
“I want to challenge you today, my friends, take the lessons, the learning, the skills, the virtues, indeed the dispositions you’ve gained here, and live them out loud in your world,” he said. “Our world desperately needs your voice. We need your influence. From Bison Hill, I charge you: Go into our world. Make a difference for God. Go make a difference for good. Go and live well, go and serve your community, go and serve our Lord.”