by Jay Soldner
jsoldner@theleaven.org
LANSING — From a podium inside the visitation room at Lansing Correctional Facility here, two of the newest Donnelly College graduates reminded those gathered that college graduation is about much more than receiving a diploma.
It is about transformation.
“Most people don’t picture a place like this when they think of graduation,” graduate Donald Jones said as he opened his commencement address. “But today isn’t about where we are. It’s about how far we’ve come.”
Donnelly College’s prison education program gives incarcerated men the opportunity to earn an Associate of Applied Science degree in business. Since the program began in 2021, 42 incarcerated men have completed their degrees — and found personal meaning and new opportunities while serving their sentences.
For Jones, earning a college degree once seemed impossible.
“Standing here as a graduate is something I used to believe was meant for other people, not someone like me,” he said.
Jones spoke openly about accepting personal responsibility for the choices that brought him to prison while refusing to allow those mistakes to define him for the rest of his life.
“I stand before you today as a man who has made mistakes, who has faced the consequences of those mistakes and who decided to change,” he said.
He described a turning point during his incarceration when he began asking himself difficult questions about the person he wanted to become and how he would use the time before him.
“I made a decision,” Jones said. “I was not going to let my worst mistake define my entire life. So, I chose to grow; I chose to learn. I chose to believe that I could be a better man than I used to be.”
Completing the college coursework while incarcerated took self-discipline and perseverance, he said. Through the experience, he discovered something unexpected: purpose.
“Even in a place like this where so much can feel limited,” Jones said, “I learned something — your mind doesn’t have to be, your growth doesn’t have to be, and your future doesn’t have to be.”
Addressing his fellow graduates, Jones said their accomplishments demonstrated that change is possible.
“We’re not stuck. We’re not finished. And we are not limited to who we used to be,” he said.
He concluded his speech by encouraging his classmates to see graduation not as the end of their journey but as a commitment to continue their journey of growth.
“A mistake doesn’t have to be the end of your story,” he said. “It can be the point where your story changes.”
Fellow graduate Paul Kiser echoed that message.
“The common theme that I keep hearing today is transformation,” he said. “That’s what education does. It transforms you from one thing to another.”
Kiser admitted he never imagined becoming a college graduate.
“I never thought I’d be a college graduate,” he said. “We are not our crimes. We are who we are today and this day forward. From this day forward, I’m a college graduate.”
After the graduates spoke, Archbishop Shawn McKnight said that the graduates had already spoken the most meaningful words.
“I will keep my remarks very brief because I do believe the graduates who spoke to us gave a good sermon,” he said. “That message of transformation is what it’s all about.”
The archbishop noted that Donnelly College’s prison education program reflects the collaborative mission of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison and Donnelly College.
“Donnelly College is a team effort between the Archdiocese of Kansas City and the good Sisters up in Atchison,” he said. “As the archbishop, I’m very proud of this institution.”
He went on to say that the Catholic Church’s commitment to education is rooted in its mission to bring people closer to Christ and to transform the world.
“It is our mission, as followers of Jesus Christ, to transform the world into the Kingdom of God. That is quite a task,” he said. “Education is an important means of doing that, one person at a time.”
Looking directly at the graduates, he added simply, “And it’s worth it. You are worth it.”
The commencement concluded with Archbishop McKnight asking God’s blessing upon the graduates, praying:
“God of promise and hope, you have called each of us to know you, to love you, and to serve you so as to live in fellowship with you and with one another. And even when we pause or falter in our trust of you, you do not abandon us to despair, but gently restore us by your grace. Bless these graduates in this milestone of their accomplishment. Sustain them in wisdom and the commitment to serve. Keep them faithful to their best selves always. And draw them and their families and friends ever more closer to you. May they walk always as children of light, reflecting your goodness in all of their future aspirations and accomplishments. Lead them always on the path to salvation. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
