Rocky Mount, N.C.— North Carolina Wesleyan College held its winter commencement on Saturday, December 8, at 10 a.m. in the Dunn Center for the Performing Arts. A total of 248 students took part in the ceremony, including 60 who completed their graduation requirements last August. Of those, 185 were from Wesleyan’s Adult Degree Program.

Commencement speaker was Donna F. Sylver, a Wesleyan trustee from Durham, N.C., who earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting at Wesleyan in 1990. Sylver currently is chief financial officer and senior vice president of Mutual Community Savings Bank. She entered banking as a budget manager at Rocky Mount-based Pioneer Savings Bank. Several companies and many career steps later she was honored by U.S. Banker magazine in 2005 as one of the 25 most powerful women in banking.

A summary and full text of Donna Sylver’s dynamic address to the graduating class is attached.

 

Summary

Full Text
 

Other commencement events included a graduate brunch, a baccalaureate service, and a reception and dinner on campus on Friday, December 7.

An assortment of photographs from commencement is also attached.