Published: April 29, 2008 09:04 pm            

More than 160 students to graduate at the Woods

ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS — More than 160 students from 23 states are expected to participate in St. Mary-of-the-Woods College’s 167th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday.

During the ceremony, Eva Mozes Kor, founder and executive director of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the college, and she will deliver the 2008 commencement address.

Kor was born in the small village of Portz, Romania, on Jan. 30, 1934, and at age 10, the Nazis took her and her family to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. After being separated from the rest of their family, Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, became the subjects and survivors of Dr. Josef Mengele’s famed genetic experiments on twins. During the experiments, Kor and her sister were subjected to horrible atrocities and abuses, but through it all, they persevered.

Kor became a U.S. citizen in 1965. She graduated from Indiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1990, and in 1995, she founded the CANDLES museum, which has provided education about the Holocaust to thousands of school children and adults. In 2003, arsonists burned down the museum, but Kor and her supporters rebuilt it in 2005. She has received many awards in her life, including a Martin Luther King Spirit of Justice award in 2004 and a Hoosier Heroes award in 2006.

On March 25, Kor gave a presentation at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, and several SMWC students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the local community, signed an “Addendum to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued by the United Nations in 1948 and details the inalienable rights of all human beings, regardless of age, race, sex, creed, national origin, or any other status. Kor’s addendum focuses on the right of every human being to forgive their enemies and themselves of the pain of the past.

“People cannot be captive their whole life,” Kor said during her presentation at SMWC.

During the 2008 commencement ceremony, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College also will award an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Donald E. Smith, chairman of the board of First Financial Bank and president of First Financial Corp.

Smith is recognized as an individual who places great emphasis on giving back to his community, and he has given generously of his time and talents to various civic and philanthropic endeavors in the Wabash Valley and throughout the state.

He has served as president and member of the Alliance for Growth and Progress and the Greater Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce; he was a member of the Terre Haute Economic Development Commission, Indiana Department of Financial Institutions, and the Southwest Indiana District Council of the Department of Mental Health; and he has served as a board member for The Woods, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana State University, Wabash Valley Community Foundation, St. Anthony’s Hospital, Swope Art Museum, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and the Indiana Racing League. He also served as director of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation.

He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the local community and the state of Indiana. He is a Sagamore of the Wabash, and he has received the Chapman S. Root Award from Hospice of the Wabash Valley, the Harry S. Truman Award, the Business Person of the Year Award from Junior Achievement, the Eddie Edenburn Award from the United States Auto Club, the Gibault Excellence Award from the Business Sector and the Community Award from Rotary. He also received an honorary doctorate from ISU.

The 2008 SMWC Commencement Ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in the Cecilian Auditorium of the College’s Conservatory of Music. Seating in the Cecilian Auditorium is reserved, however, members of the community are invited to watch the Ceremony in the O’Shaughnessy Dining Room of the Providence Center via a live video feed. The Baccalaureate Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. in the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Tickets are not required for baccalaureate.

For more information, contact Lynn Hughes, director of public relations, at LHughes@smwc.edu or (812) 535-5212.

        

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