A warm, sunny day with a steady breeze welcomed the 2012 spring graduating class of Shippensburg University.
On May 5, 2012, SU held its spring undergraduate commencement ceremony. Despite weather predictions calling for rain all day Saturday early in the week, students questioned if graduation would be in Seth Grove Stadium. The weather held off and the graduates walked in the stadium.
The warm weather did not keep parents, friends and fellow students from coming to watch. Family and friends packed the stands and lined the fence as they watched the ceremony.
After a brief delay due to backed-up traffic on Interstate 81, the class of 2012 entered into the stadium. Mark Laird led the national anthem and Rev. Janice Bye gave the convocation and the benediction, while Pennsylvania State Supreme Court Justice Thomas G. Saylor addressed the students.
Saylor studied his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia and received his law degree from Columbia University. After he graduated, he began working in Somerset County as a First Assistant District Attorney. In 1982, Saylor was appointed the director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection. Two years later he became the First Deputy Attorney General of the Commonwealth. He began his stay on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1993 and became a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice in 1997. Saylor received retention for another 10 years in 2007.
SU President William Ruud briefly addressed the students as well, wishing them luck in their endeavors. After Ruud’s remarks, the newly graduated Amy Peteritis led the crowd in the first stanza and chorus of the Alma Mater.
Senior Class President Evan Wabrick and former Student Senate President Comfort Dixon also spoke at the ceremony.
The graduate ceremony was May 4, 2012 in the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center.
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