December commencement set for Saturday
Janel Shoun-Smith |
In the past decade, Lipscomb University has almost tripled the number of degrees awarded at the end of the fall semester. And while 2015 should bring another record year, with 466 December 2015 degrees to be awarded at the commencement on Dec. 19, it is the individual faces in the crowd and the stories behind their academic success that make any college graduation a special occasion.
Myra Smith, a nearly 50-year-old African American from Paducah, Ky., graduating with her K-6 interdisciplinary teaching bachelor’s degree, is one such story.
She earned a good living in Nashville with her occupational therapy associate’s degree from Nashville State Community College, earned in 1994. But in 2012 she put aside her career to go back to school and earn her teaching degree from Lipscomb, so she could make a difference in the urban schools of Nashville.
“I can’t tell you how many days I wanted to quit,” Smith said. But she continued with her studies even when she had to rely on her church, family and friends for her livelihood, and now she will be one of the hundreds of graduates crossing the stage to receive their diploma on Saturday.
Lipscomb’s fall commencement ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. in Allen Arena. There will be a reception for all graduates and their families at 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Student Activities Center.
Among Saturday’s 231 December graduate degree recipients, will be first ever recipients of a Lipscomb Master of Fine Arts degree or a Master of Science in Applied Behavioral Science. As Lipscomb has continued to add graduate programs over the past decade, the number of graduate-level graduates has consistently outstripped the number of undergraduate graduates in the December ceremony since 2009.
Smith is starting her new career in teaching on Monday, even before receiving her diploma. She was hired to teach third grade at Tom Joy Elementary.
“I want to make sure my students have joy,” Smith said, “because so many of them have so much to go through at home. I want to make sure they have an example of unconditional love.”
Smith already had 12 years’ experience substitute teaching, and it was the teachers and principals at the schools where she worked who encouraged her to go back to school and become a certified teacher.
Her goal from the beginning was to teach at-risk students in urban schools. As the single parent of a 30-year-old daughter, she said she can relate to many of the parents of the students she will be teaching from now on.
“So many of our young African American boys and girls are going astray as they grow up. If I can save even one, then I’ve done my job,” she said.
She became discouraged in her final year at Lipscomb when she realized she would have to put off graduation from May 2015 to December 2015 to take an additional class, but with the encouragement of Lipscomb officials, she hung on and God provided the financial resources she needed to survive until graduation, she said.
“This was a good spiritual journey. It taught me how to be content. It humbled me. I certainly see things differently,” Smith said. “It showed me that God provides.”