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Jessica Herbes inspires with commencement address.
by JOANN MARKHAM –
Whitworth College student Jessica Herbes, a soldier of the Spokane Corps, was selected as student speaker at the recent intercollegiate graduation program with Washington State University. Jessica attended the Intercollegiate School of Nursing to receive her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
This graduation ceremony represented students from the four major colleges in the Spokane area that had entered into specialized studies: Gonzaga, Eastern Washington University, Washington State University and Whitworth College.
In her commencement speech she stated: “In the words of humanitarian, theologian, and medical doctor Albert Schweitzer, ‘I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.’ I have found this to be true in my own life. It is when I am serving others that I find my deepest and richest sense of fulfillment. It was in times when I was in South Africa serving in a rural missions hospital in their ICU, or volunteering at orphanages cradling infants whose lives were soon to be taken by the thief of AIDS; it was traveling to Peru with a team of nursing students to provide medication and health education to primitive tribes on the Amazon River and in the slums of Iquitos, Peru. It was rocking a weeping child to sleep who was missing his daddy after being dropped off at The Salvation Army Sally’s House for emergency foster care while his father was being taken to prison. It is in pouring myself out to others that I have found fulfillment and true joy.”
During high school, Jessica became involved with The Salvation Army through summer employment at Camp Gifford. She is actively involved in the Spokane Corps, playing in the band and attending youth activities. Regarding her, Major Ben Markham, her corps officer, says, “One cannot miss that Jessica loves the Lord. She is a young woman of passion and of grace, and because of that her nursing career will be a profound expression of God’s love. How fortunate for those who will be under her compassionate care.”