SMC To Confer Approximately 180 Degrees on Saturday

05/03/10 — Baseball All-Star, '98 SMC Alum Reggie Sanders Serving As Keynote Speaker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

SPARTANBURG, SC - Spartanburg Methodist College will graduate what is estimated to be its second largest class ever this Saturday, May 8. 

Degrees will be conferred on approximately 180 students during the 10 am commencement ceremonies. Students will gather at 9 am outside the Burgess Student Center for a processional across campus. 

1998 SMC alumnus Reggie Sanders,  a 2001 World Series champion and 1995 baseball All-Star, will be the keynote speaker for the ceremonies and will speak about his experiences both as a student at SMC and as a professional baseball player. 

Sanders was picked up in the 7th round of the 1987 amateur draft. He has been a free agent since 2007, following a injury and after having played for two seasons with Kansas City. He began his professional career at the Rookie level with the Billings Mustangs before making his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds in August 1991.

He has played professionally with the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, and the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2001 World Series championship team. 

SMC will also confer its first ever Associate in Religious Studies degree, a new degree program started this academic year, on sophomore Roger Young, from Gray Court, SC. He will be the only student this semester to receive the degree. 

Sophomore Dana Smith, a Boiling Springs High School (SC) graduate, will serve as the student speaker. 

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 99th academic year of providing quality education to students in a Christian environment.  More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

For more information, please contact Brian Fulkerson, director of public information, at (864) 587-4254.