JACKSON (AP) — Thousands received degrees Saturday as more than a dozen Mississippi colleges and junior colleges held graduation ceremonies.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker told Mississippi College students there is no better time to be a college graduate than today.

“I have no hesitation in saying that the graduates before me today comprise the best educated collection of students ever to receive diplomas from this university,” Wicker said. “Other classes may have been just as intelligent and discerning, but the body of information available today is simply greater than ever before. Your opportunities, therefore, are immense.”

Taking advantage of those opportunities was the theme across several graduations. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson spoke at Mississippi Valley State’s graduation, while fellow Mississippi Congressman Thad Cochran handled the commencement speech at Jackson State. And Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, spoke at Alcorn State’s graduation.

Best-selling Mississippi writer Greg Iles spoke at Millsaps College’s graduation and Fox news anchor Shepard Smith returned home to Oxford where he told more than 2,100 graduates in The Grove that they must be prepared for what’s ahead.

He said dramatic change often happens swiftly, and how people react to that change defines their success.

“There will be moments for which you cannot prepare, but moments for which you must be ready,” Smith said. “When they come, you’ll have a choice. You can be beaten back, you can be frightened or you can rise to meet those moments.”

In Itta Bena, graduate Patricia Stanley shared the day with her daughters, Velicia and Latasha. All three earned degrees.

Patricia Stanley took home a master’s degree in criminal justice, while her daughters earned bachelor of arts degrees in speech communications.

“I tell you what, it’s by God’s grace we’re here,” Patricia Stanley said. “As a single mother, you go through so much and I’m just so elated that God has brought us so far.”