photo by: Elvyn Jones

As the last marcher, Baker University School of Nursing graduate Malorie Witmer wraps up Sunday's commencement procession with a pink bow.

On the sidewalk in front of Baker University’s Collins Center on Sunday, Marissa Smith reflected on the good decision she made three years earlier.

Smith was one of 153 undergraduates from Baker University’s Baldwin City campus and its nursing school in Topeka who were handed diplomas by Baker President Lynne Murray during the hour-long spring commencement Sunday.

“I actually transferred here after my freshman year at Missouri State,” Smith said. “I’m so happy I did. Baker is such a wonderful place. It’s such a tight-knit learning community.”

photo by: Elvyn Jones

Baker University associate professor Joe Watson leads a procession Sunday of the Kansas City St. Andrew Pipes and Drums, the school's faculty and the Class of 2016 across the Baldwin City to the Collins Center for commencement.

Smith said she took advantage of the school’s relatively small enrollment to participate in the school’s speech choir and to work at the student radio station. She graduated cum laude in economics and will now head to Washington, D.C., for a job with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Smith and her destination were singled out in U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder’s commencement address to the Baker Class of 2016. Yoder, who represents Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District that includes Johnson, Miami and Wyandotte counties, told the graduates their lives would be marked by their Baker experience.

“As a student coming to Baker, you became a part of it,” he said. “When you leave, it will be a part of you.”

The congressman also shared pointers with the students for their futures, telling them to embrace the support of family and friends, find a mentor and understand the basic needs of showing up to work on time and ready to contribute. Yoder also urged them to remember who they were. Their Baker education and the values it instilled had prepared them to help renew American optimism, he said.

photo by: Elvyn Jones

Jillian Miller was one of many graduates to receive a diploma and hug Sunday from Baker University President Lynne Murray during commencement.

“Some say somehow our best days are behind us,” he said. “But looking out across this room and seeing the future of our country, I’m more optimistic than ever. Read, study, civically engage, cooperate with others, tear down walls and help us rebuild the confidence and courage to make our country feel strong again.”

In her remarks to the graduates, Murray also referred to the values shared with students of community service in “the oldest and best university in the state.”

“Baker is small in size, but we dream big,” she said, noting the Class of 2016’s excellence in academics and athletics.

She and her classmates had grown a great deal since their parents dropped them off four years earlier in a town with one stop light, senior class president Kayla Paul told her fellow graduates. She predicted they would continue to grow and excel.

After commencement, Michael Thomason, who graduated cum laude in exercise science, said he would soon start work in an Overland Park corporate fitness center, but planned to enroll in the fall of 2017 in a graduate occupational therapy program.

A four-year member of the Baker football team, Thomason had a quick answer when asked what was the biggest takeaway from his undergraduate experience.

“People,” he said. “All my buddies, my friends and teammates. I’ll stay in touch if they live here or far away. They are my Baker family.”