The Peru Gazette

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Thomas D. Pickering of Peru, N.Y., has earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Wake Forest University School of Law. Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Suzanne Reynolds administered the oath and congratulated the Class of 2014, which received a standing ovation from family and friends.

The law school’s 40th annual Hooding Program speaker, the Honorable John L. Murray, told the graduates and their families during the Sunday, May 18, ceremony “this is not a point of arrival but of departure. I have no doubt that the high standard of education you have received here has prepared you well, but I encourage you to remain lifelong learners.”

Dean Blake D. Morant gave his closing remarks with mixed emotions. “I feel like these are some of my children going out into the world,” he said. “In these trying times, despite that tide, you have remained resolute and you are going to be the ones who change that tide. You are already my heroes, the graduates of Class of 2014. You are our future. I applaud you, congratulate you and implore you to do well and to do good.”

A diploma ceremony was held in Wait Chapel on Monday, May 19, following Commencement exercises on Hearn Plaza.

The Wake Forest University School of Law offers the following degrees: the JD, the JD/MDiv, the JD/MA in Religion, the JD/MA in Bioethics, the Master of Studies in Law, the Master of Laws in American Law, the SJD and the JD/MBA in conjunction with the university’s School of Business.