The women were among about 220 students who graduated Saturday from Kansas Wesleyan University. About 50 of those were awarded master's degrees in business administration.

Beikmann actually completed the requirements for her business administration degree in December and has been working since in pharmaceutical sales, but she said she didn't want to miss her graduation ceremony.

She was glad she didn't. She learned during the ceremony that she was chosen for the Professor Fran Jabara Leadership Award for her activities at the university.

Leadership was one skill speaker Walter D. Broadnax, president of Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, encouraged the graduates to develop.

In his address, Broadnax, who was reared in Hoisington, discussed "Seven Strategies for Surviving and Success in a Complex World."

The first two strategies were to love, appreciate and seek guidance from family, and to draw strength from faith in God.

"You, too, will face challenges and obstacles," Broadnax told the graduates. "At those moments, drawing on your faith will make a difference in how you handle what you're facing."

Persistence and resilience also will be important. Broadnax said he developed both when he was the only African American in his public school in Hoisington in the 1950s and 1960s. He was relatively small and shy, but he could run fast, and he made the high school football team as a halfback. He got hit hard sometimes, but always got back up and continued the game.

"Don't give up or fritter away your gifts, talents or resources," Broadnax said. "Succeeding is really about the application of self. I am proof that it works."

He also told the audience not to underestimate the power and the payoff of hard work.

"Few things will bring as much reward or build as much character as working hard," he said.

Broadnax worked as a member of President Bill Clinton's transition team after his first election in 1992. He would arrive at work early and work until late at night. Many times, he noticed a woman watching him. He later learned that the woman was Alexis Herman, who served as Secretary of Labor under Clinton. Because Herman had witnessed Broadnax's work ethic, she offered him the job of Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a job Broadnax held for three-and-a-half years.

Broadnax encouraged students to develop their leadership skills, saying they should understand themselves well enough to know where they could use their leadership skills most effectively.

And finally, he encouraged them to discover their passions, and to make a contribution to the world.

He said a person could work one hour later every day at a job, but it would never mean as much as dedicating an hour a day to using one's hands, mind and heart in service of others.

nReporter Sharon Montague can be reached at 822-1411 or by e-mail at smontague@salina.com.