CLASS OF 2024 LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM MAY / JUNE 2024 Page 69 chapel for family pictures as well as hugs from family, friends, and fellow students. Though this was the final graduation ceremony at LCU, the legacy of the school will continue for years to come. The Legacy of LCU On Saturday, Class of 2024 graduate with a Master in Divinity, Ellie Koranek was the first speaker at the 79th Commencement at Lincoln Christian University. Koranek’s devotional was titled “The Legacy of LCU: The Character of Christ.” Over the past eight months, Koranek said there has been talk about LCU’s history and local, regional and global impact. There has also been talk about the names, traditions, artifacts, the buildings, the heritage and legacy of an institution that has been here so many years. Although Koranek has not found much interest in many of these conversations, she has been pondering what it means to be one of the last graduating students at the school. She has wondered what academic foundation one has when their alma mater shuts down. Next Koranek asked what legacy is there to carry on when the name of the seminary will soon crown the door of a different building on a different campus in a different state. Koranek has questioned what difference has it made or will it make that she went to school at LCU. As Koranek first walked through the campus over six years ago, she never would have imagined her time at LCU would end this way with the school closing and the opportunities she has been given. When Koranek transferred to LCU in spring 2018, she had a desire to get educated, get out and get going. Koranek commuted to campus and said she had no real desire to make friends, to be cared for by faculty and staff or to receive anything more than the education she came here for. Soon, however, Koranek found herself making friends. She realized professors learned about her than just her name and academic abilities. Koranek got jobs in the library and Student Development Office. She did not just learn about ministry but began receiving ministry from those who cared deeply about their students. Over and over, Koranek began to recognize how the campus provided the most beautiful revelation of Jesus Christ and his people she had ever seen. For Koranek, the difference it has made and will make is that we [the graduates] were discipled by the people who carried Christ’s character within themselves. The legacy of LCU has helped the students nurture the character of Christ within themselves. The gospel of the crucified Lord and risen savior is at work in this place. While recognizing the change these past two years, Koranek remembered many truths. Her word is to remember the legacy of LCU is not the numbers, the statistics, the property or buildings. It is not even the diplomas, but it is the character of Christ revealed in the people who have worked, taught and studied here. Koranek thanked God for the ways her professors helped her better know God and His Son. As she mentioned several undergraduate and
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