Faculty-Senior Breakfast Brings Laughter, Tears
Published: April 13, 2021
More than one hundred senior students and faculty members fellowshipped over coffee, juice, orange glow rolls, and an array of breakfast delights in the Armington Center last Saturday. The occasion was Greenville Colleges 65th Annual Faculty-Senior Breakfast. Professors Darrell Iler and Brian Hartley, class sponsors for the Class of 2012, hosted their colleagues and students in this long-held Greenville College tradition.
Delivering the invocation, President Larry Linamen acknowledged members of the Class of 2012 as having distinguished themselves in the classroom, on the athletic field, and on the stage. Weve seen them take on science projects that usually happen at graduate school, he added. We are proud of this group.
In keeping with tradition, students took turns sharing fond memories of their experiences at GC since they entered as freshmen in 2008. Among them were Niquita Reinhard, Nathan Ondracek and Caleb Romoser, who described the transforming power of relationships they formed with friends, classmates, and professors over their four-year journeys toward graduation.
Romoser drew laughs listing the half dozen places hes tripped on campus. Its funny what we as freshmen laughed about, he reflected, ivy cutting, the video about the man who planted trees, the obscene amount of times we have heard the word community. Because now as I stand here in front of all of you, as I stand with you about to leave this place, these are some of the things I treasure most, because I shared them with you.
Professor Iler, ever the champion for chemistry, invited storytellers to celebrate the moment by igniting hydrogen-filled balloons to create explosive bursts of flame.
Professor Hartley delivered the class charge, reminding students of Jesus encounter with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. You may not know exactly where you are going next year, he said. And, you most certainly will not know who you will bump into along the way and who will join you on this most improbable journey, but you can and you will know that there is one who loves you, who will be walking with you, whose story is revealed in the pages of scripture and who longs to sit down with you at table around gifts of bread and wine, and His name is Jesus.
Before the faculty and senior guests parted ways, they heard Kelly Caringer sing two songs including a requested reprise from her recent senior recital, Be Thou My Vision.
Vice President for College Advancement Walter Fenton welcomed the graduating seniors into the ranks of Greenville College alumni just before they received gifts of Greenville College mugs and black tee shirts emblazoned with bold orange lettering, Greenville College Alumni.
Seniors unable to attend the breakfast are welcome to pick up their gifts in the Greenville College Advancement Office in the Kaufmann Building, directly across the street from Bradford Bank.
