Text: Mindy Reagan’s remarks to the Class of 2019

Mindy Reagan ’19, senior class president, gave remarks to the Class of 2019 during baccalaureate on May 4. Here is the full text of her remarks.

Thank you all for joining us today in celebrating the Bicentennial Class of 2019.  I am honored to represent such an outstanding and diverse collection of students.

Today, I would like to speak on the scripture that comes from John 15:4-5.  It reads as follows; “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.  ‘Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches, those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  For apart from me you can do nothing’.”  I chose this scripture verse to reference because I believe that while here at Maryville, we as the Class of 2019 have produced a multitude of fruit.  I have seen my classmates and I have a direct and impactful influence on not just other students, but also faculty, staff, alumni, and the greater Maryville Community.  The legacy that we leave behind can be seen in the lives we have influenced.  But as much as we have touched lives, we have been influenced in a positive, impactful way here at Maryville.  Our beliefs have been tested and strengthened through our studies, conversations with students and staff, and by attendance and convictions at spiritual establishments.   This scripture verse describes our past, but also describes our future. 

The journey that we have yet to face will challenge us and push our limits, but we have lives left to inspire and lessons left to learn.  My hope, class of 2019, is that each of us will journey into the next step of our lives with confidence and hope that the work of our lives is not yet complete.  And that each of us will remain steadfast in our beliefs and goals in order to create a better world for ourselves and others.  We are now a fruit of the Maryville College vine.  Ripe and ready to be picked.  My prayer is that we will continue to produce fruit from our own vines throughout the rest of our lives.  Thank you. 

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”