Scenes From Baylor Commencement

June 20, 2003

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News Photo 1431 — Senior and junior women pass down an ivy chain during Ring Out. Remarks during the ceremony were made in front of Carroll Library.

News Photo 1416 — Baylor University?s Louise Herrington School of Nursing recognized 71 graduating students May 16 with a time-honored pinning ceremony. The baccalaureate-style service is a tradition at nursing schools, symbolizing the transformation from student to professional.

News Photo 1418 — Baylor University?s George W. Truett Theological Seminary honored 79 members of the Class of 2003, including 35 spring graduates, during baccalaureate ceremonies May 16 in the Paul W. Powell Chapel at the seminary?s Baugh-Reynolds Campus.

News Photo 1417 — Truett Seminary Dean Paul W. Powell (left) with baccalaureate speaker Bill Sherman, pastor of First Baptist Church, Fairview, Tenn. Sherman urged Truett?s Class of 2003, using the words of British World War I chaplain G.A. Studdert-Kennedy, to ?Serve in such a way that you will hear God as you stand before Him in eternity say ?well done? rather than ?well!??

News Photo 1428 — Capacity crowds filled Baylor's Ferrell Center as the university conferred degrees on more than 1,600 students during two commencement exercises May 17.

News Photo 1427 — During the morning graduation ceremony, Dr. Robert Packard, professor emeritus of physics, served as bearer of the mace. Dr. Norman (Buddy) Gilchrest, professor emeritus of health, human performance and recreation, had the honor at the afternoon ceremony.

News Photo 1419 — Professor and Master Teacher Ann Miller reads the citation honoring Baylor alumna and philanthropist Virginia Beall Ball. Baylor conferred an honorary doctor of humane letters on Mrs. Ball, whose name adorns such enriching cultural events as the Beall-Russell Lecture Series and the Beall Poetry Festival.

News Photo 1425 — Baylor basketball player Steven Othoro, surrounded by family members, was one of a record number of Baylor athletes who earned their degrees this spring. Othoro received his BBA during the afternoon ceremony May 17 in the Ferrell Center.

News Photo 1420 — Weldon Bigony, with Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr., salutes fellow classmates after receiving his BBA on May 17. Bigony, 82, was a standout student-athlete at Baylor from 1938-41, and was 24 hours short of earning his degree when he joined the Naval Air Corps during World War II. Sixty years later, he returned to Baylor ? with his scholarship renewed ? to complete those final eight classes to earn his business degree.

Baylor University conferred degrees on more than 1,600 graduates in mid-May, capping off an emotional week of commencement traditions such as Ring Out and Passing of the Key, ceremonial "pinnings" for graduates of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing and School of Social Work and the presentation of an honorary doctorate to Baylor alumna and philanthropist Virginia Beall Ball of Muncie, Ind.
During the afternoon commencement ceremony, the Class of 2003 gave a rousing standing ovation to 82-year-old Weldon Bigony, a former Baylor football player and World War II veteran who returned to Baylor in the fall to complete the business degree he started in 1938.

Scenes From Baylor Commencement

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