Spring 2025 graduates prepare to unlock new possibilities

Not long after moving to a sparsely populated rural community on the edge of Montgomery, Gordon Stone received a visitor at his front door.

Please sign this petition for the annexation of Pike Road, the visitor requested.

Seven years after the Town of Pike Road became incorporated, Stone was elected mayor. Stone, who earned a master’s degree from AUM, has since helped the community grow from 350 residents to more than 12,000 by focusing on the development of quality schools, efficient services and careful planning.

“Who gets to build a town from scratch in the modern era?” asked Stone, who served as AUM’s Spring 2025 Commencement speaker on May 10. “That’s not the work of one person. It’s the result of many, many, many people and hard work.”

The Town of Pike Road’s success stems from what Stone described to AUM’s Spring graduating class as a careful balance of “wise choices and risk-taking” and pursuit of a dream. Stone, who earned an MBA from AUM after graduating from Auburn University, told graduates that a four-year degree or graduate degree represent the key to converting dreams into reality.

“It is a key that will unlock for you opportunities that you can visualize and opportunities that you have never imagined,” Stone said.

“You have chosen to pursue that key and now it is yours. Let’s talk about what you will do with that key. Let’s talk about the opportunities that are on the other side of that door.”

AUM’s record-setting commencement class of more than 700 students are well on their way to unlocking opportunities. From nurses and accountants to mathematicians and social workers, AUM graduates are well-prepared to be difference-makers in Alabama’s River Region and beyond. More than 100 members of the graduating class earned “Latin honors” with a grade point average of 3.4 or better.

“It’s everything to me,” AUM nursing graduate Michael Shalayda said of earning his bachelor’s degree. Shalayda has already accepted a position at UAB Hospital in Birmingham.

“For as long as I can remember, it’s what I’ve wanted, so in order for me to be the best nurse that I can be, coming to AUM and getting my four-year degree is everything,” he said.

For many graduates, commencement opened the door to the first act of a career. For others, like Sylondia Fells, it marked a continuation. Fells, a veteran classroom educator, earned her Education Specialist degree – her fourth college degree.

“We have to stay current,” Fells said. “There’s always new things to learn, and we have to stay abreast of what’s going on.”

Fells also strives to reinforce the importance of education to her daughter, who is in the process of earning a bachelor’s degree. “I am just trying to continue to show her that, as a mom, a wife, and a full-time teacher, that anything can be done and it’s possible.”