A total of 345 students participated in Coastal Carolina University's commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
A total of 728 graduate candidates from August and December were eligible.
Commencement speaker Jonathan Green, a noted South Carolina painter and printmaker, exhorted students to go out and fight for the arts and for human rights.
“We need the visual arts, music, dance and theater, combined with knowledge, to make us far better human beings,” said Green, who also received the honorary degree Doctor of Fine Arts.
“Much of my sense of purpose in life was influenced by my grandmother Eloise who stressed the values of work, love and belonging which has always been reflected in my art,” Green said, exhorting the students to seek their life's passion and develop a work ethic.
“I believe these essential tasks of life cannot be achieved without internalizing the value of work whether it is that of an artist, accountant, manager of a household, or other essential tasks of survival."
Born in Gardens Corner, S.C., Green earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1982.
Green’s work, known for its vibrant color and dramatic depiction of rural Gullah scenes, is prized by collectors and critics throughout the world.
The following graduates were from our area:
Philip Brady, BAI, Georgetown
Kathy Martin, MAT, Georgetown
Lucy Mitchum, BAE, Georgetown
Sheena McGee, BS CL, Georgetown
Holly Crown, MBA, Georgetown
Ashley Morris, BAE, Andrews
Patrick Morris, BSB, Andrews
Colt George, BSB, Andrews
Candace Johnson, BA, Andrews
Kaitlin Patterson, BSB SC, Hemingway
Shelley Baxley, BAE MC, Hemingway
Melanie Buck, MED, Murrells Inlet
Aaron McKnight, BSB, Murrells Inlet
Lacie Maring, BAE MC, Murrells Inlet
Bianca Bashor, MED, Murrells Inlet
Chace Thornton, BSB, Murrells Inlet
Ina Coggeshall, BA, Murrells Inlet
Stephen Haines, BSB, Murrells Inlet
Jacob Benjamin, BS, Murrells Inlet
Mary Bourne, BSB MC, Murrells Inlet
Jessica Smith, BSB, Murrells Inlet
Anthony Ludwig, BA CL, Murrell's Inlet
Tiffany Walters, BSB, Murrells Inlet
Kerri Boudreau, MED, Murrells Inlet
Joseph Epperson, BSB, Murrells Inlet
Jean Harrison, BAE MC, Garden City
Brianne Calvert, BA CL, Garden City
Lara Keough, BA, Pawleys Island
Andrew Dawson, BS, Pawleys Island
Geoffrey Goodell, BSB, Pawleys Island
Lynda Hanna, MED, Pawleys Island
Jaclyn Stanzione, BS, Pawleys Island