CCU commencement honors fall 2017 graduating class including Brookfield residents Arthur Cresci and Brendan Cullen.
A total of 718 students were eligible to walk in Coastal Carolina University's fall commencement, held in two ceremonies in the HTC Center on campus on Dec. 15.
In his talk to the graduation candidates, commencement speaker Luke Rankin shared advice given to him by his father.
"As the years have gone by," said Rankin, who has served Horry County in the South Carolina State Senate since 1992, "I have learned that my father's three-word mantra is a profound philosophy of life. It's expressed in three simple words: observe, record and correlate.
"Observe. Pay attention to the world.... Carefully observe the people you interact with every day, from the highest to the most humble, paying particular attention to the latter. Record. Remember what your observations have taught you. Note how can the mistakes you've made be avoided. Correlate. Weave those experiences, lessons and observations into your philosophy and the values you live by. Use that philosophy to forge your path through life to inform the way you treat others."
Rankin was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Public Service at the ceremony. Area physicians Charles G. Sasser and Covia L. Stanley were both awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Science.
Two graduating students received the President's Award for Academic Achievement, which recognizes students with the highest cumulative grade point averages. The recipients of the award all had perfect 4.0 grade point averages, graduating summa cum laude: Hattie Adeline Jordan, an economics major of Conway, S.C. and Madeline Anne Lee, a marine science major of Fredericksburg, Va.
CCU offers baccalaureate degrees in 73 major fields of study. Among CCU's 21 graduate-level programs are 18 master's degrees, two educational specialist degrees, and the Ph.D. in marine science: coastal and marine systems science. The most popular undergraduate majors are marine science, management, exercise and sport science, communication and psychology.
More than 10,000 students from across the country and the world interact with a world-class faculty, and enjoy a nationally competitive NCAA I athletic program, an inspiring cultural calendar, and a tradition of community interaction that is fueled by more than 180 student clubs and organizations.
Coastal Carolina University was founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College and became an independent state university in 1993.
Learn more: http://www.coastal.edu/