The University of Lynchburg held its annual Commencement on Thursday morning, May 16. During the ceremony, held on Shellenberger Field, 380 undergraduate students received their diplomas.

After the procession, invocation, a song from the concert choir, and greetings from the University’s board of trustees and alumni association, Marques Armstrong ’25, president of the Student Government Association, took the podium.

He addressed the graduates, reminding them of the last four years: “a journey that has been unlike any other,” with COVID-19 and other challenges. He added, “The challenges you have faced, the obstacles you have overcome, and the triumphs you have achieved have shaped each of you into the resilient and determined individuals you are today.”

Before congratulating the Class of 2024, Armstrong said, “Today, you begin a new chapter in your book of life. Regardless of where the future leads you and what accomplishments and challenges lie ahead, always be true to yourself.

“Live your life. Be the person you are meant to be. In the end, it isn’t what we become but who we are that matters.”

Lynchburg President Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar was next at the podium. “You have earned the honor of being here,” she told the graduates. “You attended countless lectures, wrote countless papers, and spent countless hours in the lab, studio, or library — and, I’m sure, in your favorite red Adirondack chair on the Dell, studying hard.

“Your years of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication have made this day a reality, and on behalf of our beloved University, I commend you for everything you’ve done and for seeing this goal to the end. We are all incredibly proud of you.”

The keynote speaker for Commencement was Dr. Tom Nygaard, a retired cardiologist and chairman of the board of directors at Centra Health in Lynchburg.

In her introduction, Morrison-Shetlar described Nygaard as “someone who has had an incredible impact on many hearts across this community” and an “exceptional leader in our community, who deeply shares our values.”

Morrison-Shetlar, who also serves on Centra’s board, said she was “personally thrilled” that the graduates would “get to hear from my good friend.”

Nygaard spoke about his birth in Norway and his parents: his mother, who came from a big family from the state of Georgia, and his father, a Norwegian who escaped Europe at the beginning of World War II, only to return there with the U.S. Army as a “tank destroyer sergeant.”

After the war, Nygaard’s family moved to Norway, where he was born. They later moved back to the States, where he grew up working in his family’s bakery. Eventually, he went to college and then medical school at Vanderbilt University.

Nygaard did his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a cardiology fellowship at the University of Virginia. His notable contributions to the field of cardiology include, but are not limited to, founding Centra’s cardiac catheterization lab and its interventional cardiology program.

He also is the past board chairman of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation in Bedford, Virginia.

Among other things, Nygaard told the graduates to never stop learning or exploring. They should read a lot and give back to their communities. He concluded with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “Learn like you will live forever. Live like every day is your last.”

Commencement was the culmination of a weeklong celebration of this year’s graduating class. Numerous events were held on campus throughout the week, among them the annual Donning of the Kente, held on Tuesday, May 14.

During the ceremony, 22 students received a Ghanaian Kente cloth to wear with their graduation robes. For Dr. Robert Canida II, Lynchburg’s vice president for inclusive excellence, the event is a “rite of passage” for Lynchburg’s Black and African American students.

“They’re coming into their own, moving on to the next phase or journey of their life,” he said. “We look at the donning as more than a graduation tradition. It’s a symbol of achievement for our students, particularly our Black, African American students.

“We encourage them to further their life, passion and purpose beyond the University of Lynchburg.”

For the second year in a row, the University held a Lavender Ceremony for graduates from Lynchburg’s LGBTQIA+ community. During the event, which also was held on Tuesday, about a half-dozen students received a lavender-colored cord to wear at Commencement.

“Globally, students who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community can face many obstacles during their college experience,” said Jer Bryant ’03, ’10 MA, Lynchburg’s interfaith chaplain.

“At Lynchburg, we have worked diligently to make sure members of the LGBTQIA+ community have a sense of belonging. I wanted our University to have an opportunity to celebrate these students for all of their academic accomplishments, particularly their graduation.”

After the inaugural Lavender Ceremony in 2023, Bryant heard positive feedback from several students. “[They] expressed gratitude for being seen, heard, and celebrated,” said Bryant, who also teaches English and directs Lynchburg’s Wilmer Writing Center.

“Countless members of the LGBTQIA+ community experience bullying and isolation during their middle school and high school years. Unfortunately, some even experience this pain during their college years. So, to be celebrated and to be valued is truly medicine for the soul.”

Baccalaureate was held on Wednesday in Snidow Chapel. During the service, an honorary Doctor of Medical Science was presented to Anthony Miller for his decades of contributions to the PA profession.

The Cleveland, Ohio, native founded the master’s-level PA medicine program at what is now the University of Toledo. He also advised on the development of Saudi Arabia’s first PA program and is the founding program director of Shenandoah University’s PA program, where he serves as a distinguished professor of PA studies.

The keynote address, “What We Live For: The Promise of Interfaith Community,” was given by the Rev. Dr. Janet Fuller, co-director for the Master of Arts in Chaplaincy at Hartford International University.

In her address, Fuller asked the students “What would they die for?” telling them a story about when her field education supervisor, decades ago at Yale Divinity School, asked her the same question.

After much thought, Fuller determined there were things she felt strongly about — the end of war, for example — but that her death would have no impact on them. Instead, she decided to “live for” the causes she was passionate about.

The next time Fuller saw her field education supervisor, she blurted out, “You asked me what I would die for. … Nothing. I do not want to die. I refuse to die. I would die for the end of war in the Middle East, and in other places, but my death would have no effect.

“Instead, I have decided that I will live for this. This is what my life will be for.”

More photos from Commencement week can be found on Flickr.