BEREA, OHIO (January 23, 2023) — Nagi Reed of Davenport, Iowa, a graduate of Bluffton High School, has graduated cum laude from Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts: Hospitality and Tourism Management.
Baldwin Wallace University celebrated the achievements of more than 200 undergraduate and graduate students at the 2022 BW Fall Commencement exercises in December, bringing the total number of BW students who earned a degree this year to more than 800.
Graduates and the assembled family, friends, faculty, and staff heard inspiring words from commencement speaker Dr Jodie Berg, the visionary, award-winning retired CEO of Vitamix, the Cleveland-based global manufacturer of high-performance blending equipment.
Berg encouraged the graduates to "go forth and live with joy," turning the word into an acronym for life. Differentiating joy from fleeting feelings of happiness, Berg shared "how to develop that enduring type of JOY in yourself." She explained, "'J' is for journey, 'O' is for owning your journey and 'Y' is for yearning for the higher purpose that guides your journey." She also shared that a life of joy does not mean a life without challenges and offered her own examples.
The ceremony also included special recognition for high-achieving undergraduates who graduated in three categories of honors: Fourteen earned summa cum laude recognition with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.90 or higher, twelve graduated magna cum laude with at least a 3.75, and another twenty earned cum laude honors with at least a 3.60. Students in the elite Dayton C Miller Honor Society and Honors Program were also applauded.
Baldwin Wallace University, founded in 1845, was one of the first colleges to admit students without regard to race or gender. An independent, coeducational university of 3,500 students, BW offers coursework in the liberal-arts tradition in more than eighty academic areas. Located in Berea, twelve miles from downtown Cleveland, BW offers students the cultural, educational, and business advantages of a major metropolitan area.
