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Hershey Commencement held June 1, 2017
The Hershey Campus of Lancaster Mennonite School celebrated the commencement of the Class of 2017 at the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey on Thursday evening, June 1. The class processional was led by junior marshals, Morgan Furjanic and Zachary Neu. The seniors were joined by family, friends and LM faculty and staff as they celebrated their final day as seniors.
Pam Tieszen, LM Superintendent, opened the ceremony by saying, “Seniors, look around you tonight, note the friends and family, teachers and others who have walked this journey with you. Our God is an active and inspiring God; he changed you by the people who walked next to you and He will continue to be there, active and inspiring always.”
Teachers Curry Snell and Alicia Shirk spoke to the graduates and gave them this challenge: “Use your gifts to bring glory and honor to God and to do so as you keep your ultimate focus on God no matter what is going on around you, whether it be times of ease or times of struggle. So reach for your goals and reach for your dreams, but be sure to keep your hope and trust in God throughout it all.”
Valedictorian Rachel Franklin, daughter of Kirk and Cathy Franklin, Hummelstown, and salutatorian Charlotte Hill, daughter of Charles and Lucinda, Steelton, reflected on their time together as a class, congratulated the students on the journey that brought them to this day, and challenged them as they step into the next phase of life.
Miles Yoder, Hershey Campus principal and LM assistant superintendent, led the traditional tassel turn and presented diplomas alongside Pam Tieszen and Dr. Diane Umble, LM Board Chair. Yoder said, “You modeled what it means to follow Jesus Christ. You have brought honor to God! Many of you have shared your testimonies, led worship in chapel, encouraged one another in Bible classes and faithfully committed your life to prayer. We boldly proclaim that God will bring favor over your lives!”
The highlight of the evening was the traditional “passing of the torch.” This transfer of leadership was symbolized as the senior class lit the candles of the junior class and then extinguished their own candles, thus passing their leadership role to the incoming senior class.
The senior class verse was from I Corinthians 12:7-11: “A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial: to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of languages, to another, interpretation of languages. But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills.”
The 10 members of the Class of 2017 are: Rachel Franklin (Science Award, Mathematics Award, Character Quality and Service Scholarship, Fine Arts Scholarship), Kathryn Giblin, Charlotte Hill (English Award), Karl Machamer (Social Studies Award, Alumni Scholarship Award), Kyle Maurer, Alexis Rodriguez, Timothy Steyers, Dale Taylor, Dana Templeton and Yen Nhi “Jenny” Tran.
