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As Matt McCord posed outside Shortess Chapel for family photos, he held his two-year-old daughter Tatum who was playing with the traditional blue and gold tassel dangling from his graduation cap.������

McCord, the father of six (including two sets of twins) and lives in St Augustine Florida, made the trip to Columbia for the December Columbia International University commencement to walk the stage as one of the first to earn ��ο��Ƶ’s new online Master of Public Administration degree (MPA). He serves as the director of transportation for the Council on Aging in St. Johns County in Florida and “highly recommends” the MPA calling the camaraderie with fellow online students and the professors “a family environment.”

“For anybody looking for a university, ��ο��Ƶ is it,” McCord said. “The foundation of Christ, (and it’s) family-oriented. From the professors who are engaged and so loving, to the students in the class. We ended up being one giant family.”

Making an even longer trip to receive her Master of Education degree was Guojing Zhang, a first-grade teacher from China who also studied online. It was her first time in the United States. Through a translator she called her ��ο��Ƶ professors her example.

“I really want to learn from them to help influence my students,” Zhang said. ��

She is hoping to now earn a Master of�� Arts in Teaching (MAT) while studying on the ��ο��Ƶ campus.

Degrees were conferred on 325 graduates during the morning ceremony, earning associate of arts degrees, bachelor degrees, master’s degrees and doctoral degrees. The commencement speaker was W. Tobin Cassels III, a ��ο��Ƶ board member and president of headquartered in Lexington, South Carolina.

Behind the Prison Fence

Meanwhile, that afternoon on the other side of the Broad River from ��ο��Ƶ’s main campus, 14 more ��ο��Ƶ students had a separate commencement — behind the razor-wire fences of the Kirkland Correctional Institution. They are graduates of the ��ο��Ƶ Prison Initiative.

The mission of the ��ο��Ƶ Prison Initiative is to train inmates to live in accordance with biblical principles and to equip them for the unique ministry opportunities afforded by their incarceration. After graduation, they are assigned as chaplain assistants to prisons throughout South Carolina. Since its inception in 2007, 182 men and women have graduated from the program and serve in over 21 South Carolina institutions and one in Alabama. The recidivism rate among ��ο��Ƶ Prison Initiative graduates is only 5%.

Among those in attendance was Director Bryan Stirling who calls the 5% recidivism rate, “astonishing.”

“It means prison safety, it means South Carolina safety, it means safety for our communities,” Stirling told reporters attending the commencement. “When these folks get out, what we hope they’re going to do is work in communities and use these degrees to turn other people’s lives around.”

Inmates enrolled in the Prison Initiative earn an Associate of Arts degree, but at this commencement, Wolfgang (last names are withheld), earned a bachelor’s degree.

“I’ve spent much of my life doing bad things, now to turn over a new leaf, and to receive praise for doing good is awesome,” said Wolfgang after the ceremony.

Since its inception in 2007, the ��ο��Ƶ Prison Initiative has been funded by donors to ��ο��Ƶ. For more information on the program and how you can support it visit ������

WIS TV in Columbia was at the commencement to share the Prison Initiative story with sister stations statewide.��

��ο��Ƶ is celebrating 100 years of its mission to “educate people from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ." The university consistently ranks among the Top Regional Universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report, as well as a Best Value Regional University in the South.����or request information on enrollment by contacting Admissions at (803) 807-5024 or��admissions@ciu.edu.��������������������