'Long-awaited Day' for 1,445 IWU Students

Indiana Wesleyan University presented diplomas Saturday to 1,445 graduates on what President Henry Smith called "a day that we have long-awaited and anxiously anticipated."

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees were awarded in two ceremonies. All but 92 of the Saturday graduates earned their degrees through IWU’s adult and graduate education programs.

Phyllis Garmon, the owner of Wooded Glen Retreat and Conference Center in Henryville, Indiana, spoke at both ceremonies and urged students to light their world.

"You have changed your life already by the education you have just achieved," Garmon told the students.

In addition to her long career in business, Garmon and her husband and five other families founded a church in their basement 40 years ago. Thousands of people in Southern Indiana now attend the church.

Tonya Smith from Fairborn, Ohio, who received a B.S.N. degree in nursing, spoke on behalf of students. She talked about the importance of going back to school, especially at a college such as IWU that is committed to developing world changers.

"My role as a world changer is very small, but important," said Smith, who works as a civilian nurse who trains Air Force nurses on a military base.

IWU also has graduations in December and April.