16 July 2012 Bracknell, United Kingdom [Maria Rosenquist, tedNEWS] Dr Philip Brown led the 2012 Newbold College Awards Ceremony on Sunday 15 July in his first awards ceremony as principal of the College. Dr Brown opened the proceedings by welcoming the 67 graduands as well as the many family and friends in the audience, and Pastor Patrick Johnson, Senior Pastor of the Newbold Church, followed with the invocation.
Councillor Mrs Jennie McCracken, Mayor of Bracknell Forest Borough Council, and her consort Councillor Iain McCracken were generous to re-join the Newbold College community again at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday. They had spent the previous Wednesday evening attending Newbold’s end-of-year staff dinner. Newbold was also honoured to have the presence of the Wokingham Town Mayor, Councillor Peter Lucey, and Wokingham Town Mayoress, Elaine White, as well as Wokingham Town Deputy Mayor, Councillor Martin Bishop, and Wokingham Town Deputy Mayoress, Yvonne Bishop.
In the Mayor’s Remarks, Cllr Mrs Jennie McCracken said that the importance of education cannot be underestimated for the opportunities that it can yield. She thanked the students for their hard work, the parents for their commitment and the Newbold staff for their absolute dedication. This was followed by a musical item, beautifully sung by tenor soloist Daniel Ilyes, a former student at Newbold and a member of the College choir; a performance that really caught the spirit of the day with its message of God’s blessings.
The guest speaker at the Awards Ceremony was Ms Kristel Tonstad, a graduate of La Sierra University and Harvard University. Ms Tonstad currently works as an advisor at the International Law and Policy Institute in Oslo and is a member of the ADRA Norway Board and the Newbold College Board of Governors. In her address, which was entitled Our Fragile Earth, Our Kingdom Calling, Ms Tonstad focused on Amos, Micah and Isaiah and their concern for justice in society. She read from Isaiah 61.1, ‘The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the humble, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and release to those in prison’. Ms Tonstad said that responding to your calling is not some distant idea, it means labouring in the Lord here and now and it has a central part in our Seventh-day-Adventist heritage of preparing students for service in whatever shape that may take.
Dr Marko Luki? responded on behalf of all the graduating students and acknowledged the responsibilities laid on them; he vowed that they would ‘remain supportive of the ethos of the College and true to the teachings of Jesus Christ’. Marko is the first Newbold College student to be awarded a PhD through our research degrees programme. Along with a number of other Newbold students, Marko attended the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David degree ceremony on Friday 13 July and then returned to Newbold on Sunday 15 July to have his achievement recognised by Newbold College.
With the blessing of good weather, the ceremony was followed by refreshments outside the church centre. Two of the graduates, Fernanda Iniguez and José Caceres were married just the day before, and so were celebrating their graduation as newly-weds. Fernanda said that they both plan to pursue further study to build on the foundation of their Business Management degrees, and that their long-term goal is to start their own business together.
Wherever life’s journey takes them next, whether it be in the direct employment of the Seventh-day-Adventist Church or serving Him in another field, we wish all the Newbold College graduates of 2012 heartfelt congratulations. Dr Brown said, ‘we wish all God’s blessings on each graduate as they continue to serve Him in an ever-changing world. May you choose to let Him lead you daily – in His way, in His time and for His purposes.’ [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ted-adventist.org
tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division.
You are free to re-print any portion of the bulletin without need for special permission. However, we kindly request that you identify tedNEWS whenever you publish these materials.
