Retiring professor, senior class president to speak at May 6 MC Baccalaureate service
The following day’s Commencement ceremony may mark the waning hours of their time as undergraduates, but Maryville College seniors will spend a period of reflection on that time during the College’s annual Baccalaureate services, set for 4 p.m. Friday, May 6.
A Baccalaureate ceremony is a tradition at many educational institutions, during which graduating seniors gather to mark the rite of passage that will take place shortly thereafter. Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 7, on the campus grounds, weather permitting, and will feature speaker Mary Celeste Beall of Blackberry Farm. The Baccalaureate services will be a more intimate and reflective affair featuring the traditional sermon delivered by Dr. John Gallagher, MC professor of management.
“It’s a significant honor for me, first and foremost, because I was asked by a group of students,” said Gallagher, who will retire at the end of the semester. “The graduating class has the opportunity to choose their speaker at a service that among other things is intended — in a spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude — to honor them and their accomplishments.”
The 2022 Baccalaureate services mark Gallagher’s 24th as a member of the MC faculty, and because it will also be his last, the honor of speaking is even greater, he added.
“The title of the sermon is ‘Deep Water,’ and the scripture passage is Luke 5:1-11,” he said. “The theme is along the lines of our best lives being lived in the deepest waters.”
In addition to Gallagher, the services will feature Remarks from the Senior Class by Lesli Nolazco, senior class president, a senior psychology major from Lenoir City who plans to deliver a portion of her remarks in Spanish to share “appreciation of the growing Latinx and Hispanic class,” she said.
“We are the first full Dreamer class graduating, so history is happening this year,” she added. “I plan to briefly talk about how, as a class, we have gone through four years of hardships, including COVID and peer and faculty deaths, but also all the great memories, too.
“In terms of how a global pandemic has shaped our collective experiences, I think the biggest thing that comes to mind is feeling burnt out. I feel like as a class, we are all overachievers, which made it difficult to navigate in what became a virtual world. But in a more positive light, as much as it has been a challenge and as much as many of us have felt that stress, we have worked as a class to lean on each other to get through it and still come out strong.”
Baccalaureate services take place at 4 p.m. Friday, May 6, in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts. (Lineup for students and staff members begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Lambert Recital Hall.)
The service is free and open to the public.