Family and friends gathered May 6 to honor two deceased students with the dedication of a bench and garden.

Katie Friesen and Jeanette Mathews were members of the class of 2011. In 2009 Mathews died of natural causes and Friesen was killed in an automobile accident during a class field trip.

Among the speakers were Friesen’s father, Dr. Brian Friesen, classmates Aly Shackelford and Mariah Mandelbaum and alumnus Kelly Nachtigall, who designed the memorial. The bench and garden are between East Hall and Strasbourg Quad on the main campus.

Follow God and lead others, graduates were told at commencement May 7.

“God wants to be your leader,” Gary Wall told 426 graduates, their friends and families on the East Hall Green of the main campus. “There are many choices to be made, but this is by far the most important, to follow or not, to live for God or for yourself, to serve or be served.”

The alumni, faculty and staff past and present who built bachelor’s degree completion into the program with FPU’s largest enrollment celebrated 20 years of success May 6.

More than 2,500 graduates of 241 cohorts have graduated from DC since the first cohort began in 1991 under the leadership of Dennis Langhofer, Ed. D., whose retirement was included in the evening festivities in Shehadey Dining Room in Steinert Campus Center.

Student Life hosted the annual end-of-the-year BBQ May 2 on the University Green on the main campus. Helping students blow off steam were five inflatable bounce houses and a meal on the lawn.

The annual Leadership Awards ceremony took place April 26 in the AIMS Hall Atrium on the main campus. Students in the traditional undergraduate program were honored in 16 categories. The Sunbird Award, for best exemplifyingthe Fresno Pacific Idea went to David Hawes, a junior communications major from Mariposa. Here, Dean of Students Randy Worden addresses the group over dessert.

Congressman Jeff Denham (pictured) was among the Valley officials participating in “Today’s Responsibility, Tomorrow’s Prosperity,” the Third Annual Sunbird Conservatives Conference. The event was presented April 16 by the Sunbird Conservatives Club. Devin Nunes of the 21st District also spoke, and the keynote was given by Hoover Institute Fellow Victor Davis Hanson.

Music, drama and visual art came together to celebrate the Easter season April 21 in Butler Church.

A real-life story of friendship between two couples—one Jewish from Russia, one Christian from Texas—was the basis for The Immigrant, this year's spring Mainstage April 7-9, 14-16.

In the play, a young Jewish couple comes to Texas in 1909 after escaping persecution in Russia and is befriended by a Christian couple. The play is inspired by the experience of playwright Michael Harelik’s grandparents. Julia Reimer, Ph.D., theater faculty, is the director. Cast members are (from left): Trevor Thomas, Misty Ann Stewart, Breanna Edmonds and Joshua Andrade-Cantú.

Coming to a university is like joining a family, and prospective FPU students got to meet the relatives during Accepted  Day April 19.

A new group of graduates will be part of commencement Saturday, May 7.

Those earning master’s degrees through the Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, formerly MB Biblical Seminary, will join graduates of the traditional undergraduate and master’s programs. The seminary became a school of the university in February 2010 and this May marks the completion of the first full academic year since the merger. These are the first joint ceremonies.