Michael Mattox
  • exercise and sport science
  • Class of 2017
  • Murrells Inlet, SC

Michael Mattox is graduation candidate at Coastal Carolina University

2017 Dec 18

Michael Mattox, of Murrells Inlet, SC, graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in exercise and sport science during commencement exercises held Dec. 15, 2017, at Coastal Carolina University. More than 700 students were candidates for graduation in the ceremony held at the HTC Student Recreation and Convocation Center on campus.

In his talk to Coastal Carolina University's fall 2017 graduation candidates, commencement speaker Luke Rankin shared advice given to him by his father.

"As the years have gone by," said Rankin, who has served Horry County in the South Carolina State Senate since 1992, "I have learned that my father's three-word mantra is a profound philosophy of life. It's expressed in three simple words: observe, record and correlate.

"Observe. Pay attention to the world.... Carefully observe the people you interact with every day, from the highest to the most humble, paying particular attention to the latter. Record. Remember what your observations have taught you. Note how can the mistakes you've made be avoided. Correlate. Weave those experiences, lessons and observations into your philosophy and the values you live by. Use that philosophy to forge your path through life to inform the way you treat others."

Rankin was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Public Service at the ceremony. Area physicians Charles G. Sasser and Covia L. Stanley were both awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Science.

Two graduating students received the President's Award for Academic Achievement, which recognizes students with the highest cumulative grade point averages. The recipients of the award all had perfect 4.0 grade point averages, graduating summa cum laude: Hattie Adeline Jordan, an economics major of Conway, S.C. and Madeline Anne Lee, a marine science major of Fredericksburg, Va.