Graduates Celebrated at Annual Commencement Ceremony

Approximately 700 students crossed the stage during Rockhurst University’s annual commencement ceremony, capping off college careers with a weekend of celebration.

Among the graduates were approximately 450 students from across the University’s undergraduate programs — including 59 graduates of the University-affiliated Research College of Nursing — and 260 graduate-level students.

On Friday, the graduates were celebrated during the traditional Baccalaureate Mass in St. Francis Xavier Church, processing from campus across Troost Avenue to the church.

Friends and family gathered to celebrate the graduates during Saturday’s commencement ceremony at Municipal Auditorium. Five students — Lauren Bell, Lauren Pennell, Erica Pruett, Emma Priesendorf and Caroline Ukena — shared top honors among the graduating class as the recipients of the Senior Gold Medal. Caroline Ludwig, a graduate from the University’s doctor of physical therapy program, and Lauren Herrmann, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree candidate, offered reflections on behalf of the graduate and undergraduate classes, respectively.

In her comments, Ludwig recognized that the graduates’ paths would diverge, but that in other more important ways, they will always share something.

“We leave in unison today as graduates. And though when the celebrations are over we will begin our lives as individuals we will always have the common bond of Rockhurst University and the values it instilled in us,” she said.

Herrmann praised these same values in her comments as she encouraged the graduates to always strive for bigger and better things. Quoting Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, she said that “the world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness.”

“Never stop chasing greatness,” she said. “The doors to our future are right in front of us; we are moments away from crossing that threshold. So I ask you — no, I implore you — don’t knock on the door, don’t crack it open to see what’s there. Run, jump, even dance through it because on the other side greatness is waiting.”