VIDEO/PHOTOS: Jeb Bush addresses Ave Maria's first law school graduates in Naples

Commencement for Ave Maria law grads

Thoughts on being first Naples grads and ...

AVE MARIA — Eighty-four graduates of the Ave Maria School of Law were honored Saturday at the school’s annual commencement exercises.

They held the distinction of being the first law school group to graduate in Naples, following Ave Maria’s 2003 move to the area from Michigan.

The law school itself was formed 11 years ago, President and Dean Eugene Milhizer told a group of about 350 people at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts.

In his welcome, Milhizer exhorted the graduates to continue their pursuit of academic excellence in the context of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

“This is the only proper foundation protecting the inherent dignity and worth of every person,” he said. “It also ingrains a commitment to justice and a compassion for those to be served.”

And, he said: “Mere technical proficiency without a commitment to justice results in a sterile and incomplete product.”

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — who received an honorary law doctorate at the ceremony — gave the commencement address.

Pronouncing the name of the university correctly with a rolling ‘r’ in Maria, Bush said he hoped all the graduates would choose to stay in Florida to work and raise families.

His advice: “Work hard, master your subject, be confident ... but understand that confidence is born of achievement.

“Keep your professional successes and failures in perspective,” Bush added. “No matter what happens in your careers, it won’t measure up to the satisfaction you’ll get from being a good spouse, parent and friend.”

Talking about lawyers having a commitment to moral truth, Bush said far too often legal training and a “lawyerly” way of thinking is associated with greed, skepticism, cynicism and doubt.

“Cleverness and the ability to manipulate words are exalted over intellectual honesty,” he said. “Ave Maria has given you the tools to being about a more just society ... to persuade those in need of persuading that moral truth exists.”

Graduate Jason Jesko completed undergraduate studies at Texas A&M, where he met his wife, Karen.

“We’d heard about this school when we were there,” Jesko said. “We were both involved in the Catholic Student Center there, and I decided to come here.”

Jesko has his route already mapped out.

“I was fortunate enough to have an internship with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps, and they offered me a commission starting in 2011,” he said.

Between now and then, Jesco will spend his time studying and taking the Texas Bar exam.

“But, I’ll also enjoy some family time, too,” he said.