Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor spring Commencement was held on Saturday, May 7, in Crusader Stadium. This was the university’s 160th graduating class. 558 students were awarded degrees. Of those, 397 students received baccalaureate degrees, 144 received master’s degrees, and 17 earned doctoral degrees.

Salado graduates included: Camryn Renee Bintz – B.B.A. – Accounting & Finance; Rebecca Lauren Burrow – B.S. – Biology; Megan Elliott – B.S.N. – Nursing; Kori Lynn Norman – B.S.N. – Nursing; Bertha Rocha – B.A. – Spanish

Student awards given during the ceremony included the Provost Medal for highest overall GPA, which was split between sixteen students who each graduated with perfect 4.0 grade point averages: Katie Ashworth of Georgetown, Mikayla Beebe of Cedar Park, Roxanne Bodkin of Belton, Autumn Brewer of Sulphur Springs, Kathryn Hamilton of Edna, Megan Lawson of Houston, Kelsey Leibert of Harlingen, Matthew Liberty of Copperas Cove, Kathryn Mayo of Woodway, Jonathan Payton of Tomball, Amber Steinbring of Houston, Jenell Thompson of Belton, Sara Tuttle of Cedar Park, Brooke Villani of Allen, Kirstie Wallace of Sulphur Springs, Bethanie Witte of Palestine.

The Loyalty Cup for the student who is most representative of the ideals, traditions and spirit of the university was given to Clinton Lee Barrineau of Temple and Victoria Fahy of Katy. The President’s Award for meritorious service went to Katarina Valenzuela of Mission. During her time on campus Valenzuela has served in several leadership including with Welcome Week, Revival, Cru Knights, and the Miss MHB pageant.