By Paul Slocumb
A total of 330 students, 225 from the Alpine campus and 105 from the Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Uvalde campuses were candidates for degrees during 2018 Fall Commencement exercises December 14-15 at Sul Ross State University. Ceremonies took place at the Pete P. Gallego Center in Alpine and Saturday at Uvalde High School’s John Harrell Auditorium.
During his Friday evening Commencement address, Sul Ross President Dr. Bill Kibler urged the new grads to maintain balance in their post-collegiate lives.
“Each of you are about to begin what some refer to as your ‘real life.’ But don’t ever confuse your life and your work,” he said. “You cannot be first-rate at work, or life, if work is all you are. And no man ever said on his deathbed, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’”
To maintain that healthy life and work harmony, Kibler recommended committing to the arduous endeavors of love and good works.
“Get a life in which you are generous. Realize that life is glorious, and you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around,” he advised. “All of us want to do well, but if you don’t work hard to do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.”
Kibler concluded his address with the John Wesley quote he keeps framed in his office.
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, for as long as you can.”
Alpine campus graduates, their degrees, and hometowns are listed below. Degree codes are as follows: BA – Bachelor of Arts; BBA – Bachelor of Business Administration; BFA – Bachelor of Fine Arts; BS – Bachelor of Science; MA – Master of Arts; MAg – Master of Agriculture; MBA – Master of Business Administration; MEd – Master of Education; MS – Master of Science; cum laude, 3.5-3.69 grade point average; magna cum laude, 3.7-3.89; summa cum laude, 3.9-4.0.
Those earning a degree from Van Horn and Valentine- Van Horn: Briana N. Sanchez, BA, English; Fabian Miguel Baeza, BS, Clinical Kinesiology, cum laude; Brandon Marc Carrillo, BS, Criminal Justice
Valentine: Gabriela Tarango, BBA, Business Administration, summa cum laude
