Tears, laughter mark Northwest commencement

Northwest Missouri State University welcomed 459 newly minted Bearcat grads into its often-proclaimed "family" of alumni Friday during an exceptionally emotional commencement ceremony that paid tribute to a fallen student and a courageous local resident battling stage four cancer.

The large crowd spontaneously rose cheering to its feet as Sherry Wray, Maryville, crossed the stage to accept a bachelor of science degree in therapeutic recreation.

Wray began her college career in 1980 but put her education on hold in order to work and raise a son. She returned to Northwest  in 2002 but was diagnosed with breast cancer the following year.

Over the years, Wray inspired classmates and professors alike, persevering as the disease spread to several areas of her body. And on Friday, appearing frail but elated, she held up two fingers in a "V" sign for victory while sitting capped and gowned with her fellow graduates.

Northwest also awarded awarded a posthumous degree to the family of Tomarken Smith, a senior corporate recreation and wellness major who was killed Sept. 14 in an alleged assault in downtown Maryville.

Once again, the packed audience inside Bearcat Arena responded with a heartrending standing ovation.

A third highlight was state Department of Agriculture Director Jon Hagler's rousing commencement address, which was spiced with equal parts humor and inspiration.

"If you have a passion for something, if you have a drive to do something bigger than yourself then by all means capitalize on it," Hagler said. "Let that passion shine through. Show that there’s something greater than yourself. Show that there’s a cause that makes your life worth getting up for in the morning, and I assure you that your life will be better lived."

Hagler, who broke up the crowd a couple of times, got one of his biggest laughs when he made reference to a popular, and somewhat risque, novel: "Life rarely comes at you in black or white, love and hate, good and evil. It generally happens in those countless shades of gray — notice I didn't say 50 shades of gray, but countless shades."

In one of the school's biggest winter commencements ever, Northwest awarded 355 bachelor’s degrees, 98 master’s degrees and six specialists in education degrees. The top three undergraduate majors were elementary education, business management and agricultural business. The top graduate degree was applied computer science.