Third class of Masters students at Ralston College admitted to their degrees

Degree ceremony in Savannah welcomed hundreds from across the United States to celebrate accomplishments of 26 American scholars. 

Twenty-six American scholars were honored on Saturday afternoon as graduates of Ralston College’s third class, having been admitted to their Master of Arts in the Humanities degrees before an audience of hundreds of family and friends.

The ceremony confirms Ralston College among the most established new universities in the United States, which must have at least one graduated class in order to proceed through federal accreditation.

Founding president Stephen Blackwood congratulated the graduates on both their success and their choice to follow pursuits as challenging as their year of intense academic study at the College: “We are immensely proud of the achievements of this, our third cohort of graduates,” he said.

“Ralston College exists for all those who seek intellectual rigor and shared adventure in a scholarly community that promotes and defends truth, freedom, beauty, and fellowship. It therefore gives me great pleasure to witness how our immersive academic program has inspired and transformed the graduates, and even greater joy to see how courageous, ambitious, and diverse their future plans are, as they step, with confidence, back into the world beyond Ralston.”

About Ralston College’s degree ceremony

Led by a bagpiper, an academic procession of College officials and faculty in regalia marched from Forsyth Park to St John's Episcopal Church on Bull Street. This procession continues a long-standing tradition performed at the world’s most ancient and influential universities which first granted academic degrees in the 12th century. As well as connecting the university to its town, academic processions serve as a symbol of unity and mark the formal, festive celebration of student achievement.

The Ralston graduands, who received the procession at the church, wore full academic dress to the ceremony, which was conducted throughout in the formal language of the university: Latin. Seated in order of their presentation, they proceeded to join their professors by being formally admitted to their degree, swearing an oath, assuming the hood that denotes their attaining the higher status of Master of Arts, and thus becoming an alumnus or alumna of the College in perpetuity.

Following the ceremony, the bagpiper, Stephen D. Ailes, led the Faculty and the new crop of graduates, along with their guests, from St John’s Church to the College’s main academic building, 26 East Gaston Street.

Speeches, toasts and musical performances preceded an evening of reflection, celebration, and Greek dancing at nearby Collins Quarter at Forsyth Park.

About Ralston College

Ralston College graduates are among 75 to be admitted to a first-of-its-kind Master's degree in the Humanities. The program, which begins with a term of intensive language study in Ancient and Modern Greek on the island of Samos in Greece, is followed by three terms of study, based at the College’s campus in Savannah, which trace the development of Western civilization from ancient times through to the present.

With the close of the 2024-25 academic year, the College is in the midst of admitting 28 students who will assemble on Samos this summer, and will, in Spring 2026, make up its fourth consecutive cohort to be admitted as Masters of Arts in the Humanities.

Founded in 2010, Ralston College is a private, 501(c)(3) institution of higher education. The College is devoted to freedom of thought and speech, has no political or religious affiliations, and does not accept government funds.

In addition to its degree program, the College also hosts free, public lecture series which, since its first academic year in 2022, has welcomed more than 3,000 guests. To date, the College’s podcasts and online lectures—also available for free—have reached an audience of many millions across the globe.