COOK TO GRADUATES: LEARNING NEVER ENDS

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook was short and to the point Saturday.

"I am the very last thing that stands between you and your diploma," she told the graduates at Southeast Missouri State University's spring commencement.

Seven-hundred thirty undergraduates and graduate students received their diplomas in front of a packed house of about 7,000 parents, friends and relatives at the Show Me Center.

Nine students graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, the most in the school's history.

Provost Charles Kupchella called it one of the best graduating classes in the history of the institution.

Since its founding 122 years ago, only 64 students have graduated with perfect grade point averages. That number includes the nine who graduated Saturday.

Spring commencement was a special day for Southeast Regents Lynn Dempster and Don Dickerson.

Dempster witnessed the graduation of a grandchild, while Dickerson celebrated the graduation of his wife, Jo Anne.

Cook delivered a relatively short speech, much to the delight of the graduating class.

She took off her mortar board at the start of her speech. "I was afraid if I kept my hat on, I would be hypnotized and you would be stuck here all afternoon," she told the audience.

"For many of you, this marks the last time you will write a term paper or sit through a final," she told the graduates. But she said learning never ends.