TRADITIONS
Graduation 185 students graduate from WVSOM One hundred eighty-five students graduated from the
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) during the school’s 34th annual commencement ceremony in Lewisburg, W.Va., on May 28.
The students, who received their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degrees, represented 45 West Virginia residents and 140 out-of-state residents. Michael Adelman, D.O., J.D., president, and Lorenzo Pence, D.O., vice president for academic affairs and dean, led the ceremony. Brian Noland, Ph.D., chancellor for the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, presented the keynote address. Noland told the seniors to enjoy the moment they have worked their entire lives to reach. He offered seven points of wisdom — each providing inspirational, yet humorous life lessons for the graduates. Noland told the medical students to be true to themselves; take the time to listen and say thank you; focus on the joys of life; find their passion, not their profession; and become an active member of society. “There are two types of education — one that teaches us to make a living and the other that teaches us how to live,” Noland said. “No matter which of these two paths you choose I want you to be encouraged to do all that you can in some
“This is a day for each of you to reflect upon your achievements
way to give back.”
and say to yourself, I dreamed of earning a medical degree, He talked about the importance of these doctors in their
I believed in that dream, and ultimately, I achieved that
communities and how they will have an impact in the medical
dream,” Brian Noland, Ph.D., told the graduates.
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field and on the people they serve. WVSOM MAGAZINE
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Fall 2011