Waynesburg University held its annual commencement exercises honoring approximately 525 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students Sunday, April 30.
Taylor Mae Garrett, a math (secondary education) major with a minor in Spanish from Aurora, Ohio, was named the valedictorian of her class. She is the daughter of Chris and Pamela Garrett.
“I was honored to have the opportunity to share a few words on how my experiences at Waynesburg shaped the way that I view the world and how I want to affect the world through my future actions,” said Garrett. “I hope I conveyed my appreciation and pride in this institution and in my fellow classmates.”
As a student, Garrett was the president of both the Waynesburg Outdoor Club and Venture Crew 1849. She was a member of EcoStewards and the Waynesburg Recycling Task Force, most recently serving as the director of recycling challenge.
Garrett was a Leadership Scholar and a member of both the Kappa Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society and Kappa Delta Pi International Education Honor Society. As an incoming freshman, she was the recipient of the Jeffrey and Regina Taussig Ohio Honors Scholarship, a scholarship which honors an Ohio student who displays extraordinary academic, service and leadership skills and majors in the area of math or science.
“Waynesburg University has provided me with a myriad of incredible opportunities,” said Garrett. “The people that I have met along the way will continue to be the most important and meaningful part of my time at Waynesburg. The community at Waynesburg is what drew me to apply when I initially visited, and it is what I will most cherish about my time at Waynesburg.”
Upon graduating from Waynesburg, Garrett plans to take a gap year to serve in Albuquerque, New Mexico, through a program offered by the Presbyterian Church USA called Young Adult Volunteers.
“My hope and prayer is that through completing a program with an intentional focus on vocational discernment, I can better understand where God is calling me,” said Garrett. “I know that I want to teach, and I love teaching; however, I am not yet sure of where I want to teach and in what capacity.”
Founded in 1849 by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Waynesburg University is located on a traditional campus in the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania, with three additional sites located in the Pittsburgh region. The University is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and is one of only 21 Bonner Scholar schools in the country, offering local, regional and international opportunities to touch the lives of others through service.
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