As students put the finishing touches on final projects and prepare for their final exams, anticipation is building for the upcoming graduation ceremonies.
Amongst the festivities, Joni Eareckson Tada is slated to speak at the May 29 undergraduate graduation and Korean pastor, Billy Kim, is scheduled to speak at the May 28 graduate and BOLD students’ graduation ceremony.
Brenda Velasco, manager of public relations and internal communications, said she believes Tada’s presence at the event is appropriate.
Disability is a big topic in our culture, right now, making Joni perfect as a speaker, she said.
Tada best addresses questions of suffering and why God allows it because she has a great voice in the world of people with disabilities and has used it to impact the world.
Velasco said Biola has partnered with Tada for many years for many different things and that Tada, with her organization “Joni and Friends,” teaches a class at Biola about disabilities and suffering.
“I’m really glad Joni is the speaker because I work in radio and we carry her feature ‘Joni and Friends,’ and so I’m glad it’s someone I know,” said senior Katie Trent. “I’ve been trying to listen to her on campus and I actually keep missing her, and so I’m glad that she’s speaking at graduation.”
Velasco expressed excitement over the other keynote speaker at the event as well.
“Kim is pastor to one of the largest churches in Korea, so he has a lot of international influence and just making an impact in the country of Korea,” she said. “As students are graduating with a degree from Biola and impacting the world, it’s just a great example of someone who is already doing that and being inspired by him.”
The guest speakers will share with one of Biola’s largest graduating classes, with 1,029 students (graduate and undergraduate) prepared to walk, Velasco added. She predicted the ceremonies would be lengthy.
“Usually the president of Biola invites speakers depending on the direction that Biola is going in, and this year these are the two people that he extended the invitation to that were globally minded and an international leader in the world,” she said.
As final preparations are made in advance of the graduation ceremonies, Biola’s seniors are looking forward to impacting the world in their respective areas of expertise.
Trent said Biola has made her more marketable in the job market and she looks forward to graduation with excitement. Fellow graduation senior Courtney Cheatham echoed this sentiment.
“As a communications major, speech/drama emphasis, Biola has served to give me a Christian foundation to build my acting stage upon,” Cheatham said. “As a performer, my goals include film, television and Broadway, which I will pursue after graduation with training at the conservatory program at the British American Dramatic Academy. I’m super excited to see what God is going to do with the training Biola has given me, mixed with the passion he has placed in my heart.”
The BOLD and graduate ceremony will take place on Friday, May 28, at 6 p.m., and the undergraduate ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 29 at 9 a.m. Special music will also be provided by James Ingram, an early 80s singer, who is also a friend to one of the faculty members here at Biola.
