Class of 2015
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 20, 2015 3:05 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Bretton Gouthro of Alberta, Canada shakes the hand of Dr. Phillip Kertsetter, president of the University of Mount Olive, during winter commencement in Kornegay Arena Saturday. Gouthro was a member of the university's baseball team.
MOUNT OLIVE -- Saturday's brisk weather was a far cry from what Kiera Murray is used to at her home in West Palm Beach, Fla.
But she and her family didn't appear to mind as they hugged, took photos and celebrated her graduation from the University of Mount Olive with a bachelor's degree in exercise science.
Ms. Murray was among the approximately 280 students who received their degrees Saturday afternoon during commencement exercises in Kornegay Arena.
Many of the students were the older "non-traditional" working adults who took advantage of the university's night or on-line programs at it several locations.
"I was recruited for track and field," Ms. Murray said. "I came here for four years on a track and field scholarship. It felt amazing to be done with it. I just grateful that my family could be here to witness me graduating after all of the work that I put in. I want to go to graduate school for sports management immediately."
Ms. Murray said she had not picked out of school, but is searching.
"I wanted to scream (in excitement)," she said about how she felt when she heard her name called out. "But I knew that wouldn't be appropriate so I held in. But I just wanted to scream. I am happy now."
Her parents, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, cousins and friends made the trek from Florida for the big day.
"We are going to take pictures and then we are going out to eat," she said.
"We are leaving tomorrow (Sunday). It is cooler, but I loved it. It is a lot slower (paced life), but I love the people in Mount Olive. I really wouldn't change it. If I could do it all over, I would still come to Mount Olive."
Francine Elks Cooke, president of the university's alumni association, told the graduates they should be proud of the milestone they have achieved.
"Today, as you embark on new career and the challenges of the future never forget your fellow alums, your friends and the relationships you have created while here at Mount Olive," she said.
"The memories of this institution will forever live on in the days, weeks, and years to come."
She also challenged the graduates to be active members of the alumni association.
Speaker Dr. Michael J. Dunsmore, superintendent of Wayne County Public Schools, said his message to students was not a feel-good message, but a message of truth and encouragement.
"Peter F. Drucker, arguably one of the greatest business minds of the 20th century, pointed some 40 years ago to a sea change in our society," Dunsmore said.
"He showed how we were moving from a more protective and cozy employee society towards a more challenging and demanding entrepreneurial society. This does not mean everybody is an entrepreneur, but it means that wherever you stand, even when employed by a company, you have to act with an entrepreneurial spirit. It means that the social compact is changing and that you have to responsibility for yourselves.
"Should you be worried about this? Should you regret the gradual vanishing of the "golden cages" that corporations and public sector organizations were so great in building? I frankly don't think so. But you better get ready. Change is upon us and it is accelerating. Drucker was the master in bringing things to the point -- 'you cannot manage change, you must get ahead of it' -- first in your minds and then in your practice and your lives."
He encouraged the graduates to follow the path that has been chosen for them, but to be open and willing to change and adapt.
"Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James, at the beginning of the 20th century, distinguished between those who are 'once born,' who do not stray from the straight and narrow and those who are 'twice born,' who embrace fundamental change," Dunsmore said.
"In addition to needing to know yourselves, you must be ready to reinvent yourself throughout your lives and to live a fulfilling life in this new emerging world, you must become an architect of the future."