President Trietley, Members of the Board of Trustees, Faculty, Administration, Families, friends, and fellow graduates; Welcome to the 2023 Viterbo University Commencement Ceremony. My name is Lana Yeakel, and I am graduating today with my BSN and minor in servant leadership.

If you ask Viterbo students or alumni why they chose to study at the university, chances are they’ll mention how the campus felt like home from the first visit and they felt like part of a family. For students whose parents attended Viterbo, that sense of home and family is often even greater. Four sets of students and their alumni parents shared their Viterbo connection stories with Strides magazine.

God has a way of always surprising Melissa (Meyer) Mofikoya. A chemistry major at Viterbo, Mofikoya was convinced that she was going to be a doctor. In the fall of her senior year, she had a change of heart and decided to go to graduate school instead of medical school. At the University of North Dakota, she joined a research group focusing on environmental testing and analytical instrumentation.

The recent recipient of a new hip joint that makes him feel like a “rock star,” 74-year-old Fr. Conrad Targonski is still going strong as Viterbo University chaplain. A member of the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption, Iraq War veteran, and conversant speaker of four languages, Fr. Conrad was recently honored with the prestigious Iverson Freking Ecumenical Recognition Award.

Growing up, Rose (Steinmetz) Bingham dreamed of becoming a teacher or a nurse. The empty corncrib on her grandparents’ farm often became a pretend hospital setting, with her dolls and unenthusiastic cats as patients.