Three Wichita Falls area students graduate from Wayland Baptist

Three Wichita Falls area students are among graduates who walked the stage at Wayland Baptist University May 20.

• Gerrit R. Deathrage of Iowa Park graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in history.

• Hope Ashley Shatto of Wichita Falls graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.

• Jonathan Tyler Latham of Wichita Falls graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Science.

At Wayland’s graduating ceremony at the Hutcherson Center on their Plainview campus, Dr. Cindy McClenagan, vice president for Academic Affairs presented candidates for degrees to Dr. Bobby Hall, president, who conferred degrees with assistance from Mark Jones, chairman of the board of trustees.

Sara Elyse Diaz, a graduating senior from Midland, Texas, presented the Student Address. Rylee R. Biggs, a graduating senior from Midland, read Colossians 3:23 from the Bible, and Jacob Stephen Garcia, a graduating senior from Clovis, NM, directed the singing of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Following an invocation by Brody E. Williams, a graduating senior from Fritch, Justin Porter, a graduating senior from Montgomery, AL, led the “Pledge to the United States Flag,” and Joshua Smedema, a graduating senior from Cape Town, South Africa, led the “Pledge to the Christian Flag.” The benediction was led by Lizette Flores Garcia, graduating senior from Plainview.

Wayland Baptist University aims to educate students in an academically challenging, learning-focused, and distinctively Christian environment for professional success and service to God and humankind, they said in a press release.

The university was established in 1908 by pioneer physician Dr. James Henry Wayland, who believed that education should be accessible to all and that it should be grounded in faith in Christ. Wayland is the oldest institution of higher education in continuous existence on the High Plains of Texas and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

In addition to the home campus in Plainview, Wayland operates campuses in Lubbock, Amarillo, Wichita Falls and San Antonio; Phoenix and Sierra Vista, Ariz.; Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska; and Mililani, Hawaii. The university also offers full degree programs online, as well as a nursing program through Wayland’s San Antonio campus.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Three Wichita Falls area students graduate from Wayland Baptist