Esteemed Trial Attorney and Alumnus From the Class of 2007 to Deliver 2026 New Student Convocation Address at Westminster College

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fulton, Mo. - Aug. 10, 2026: Esteemed trial attorney and Westminster alumnus Anthony Laramore ’07 will deliver the College’s 2026 New Student Convocation address at 4:45 p.m. on Aug. 15 in Champ Auditorium. The event is open to the public.*

About Anthony Laramore

Employed by Page Law in St. Louis, Laramore is nationally recognized by Super Lawyers and The National Trial Lawyers. He has been involved in several significant cases, including a record-breaking $28 million judgment in Lincoln County, Missouri. Laramore also helped define the element of causation in suicide-related litigation in the landmark case of Clark v. SSM Health. 

At Westminster, Laramore was a philosophy and political science major as well as a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He is a recipient of Westminster’s 2026 Alumni Achievement Award — the College’s highest honor.    

About Westminster’s Nearly 100-Year-Old Tradition

New Student Convocation 2026 begins with a solemn processional and ceremony on the Hill and ends in Champ Auditorium, where Laramore will deliver his convocation address.
Steeped in tradition, Westminster’s New Student Convocation dates back to the fall of 1929 with the Columns Ceremony, which is conducted by the Skulls of Seven, an honor society established in 1898. The Skulls are seven students who epitomize Westminster’s key virtues: tradition, history, scholarship, loyalty, citizenship, service and honor.

Senior Allie Auer of St. Louis, Missouri, Custodian of the Columns, will officially induct the new students into the Westminster community after a recitation of the Athenian Oath.

Two members of the freshman class - Addison Bedsworth of Auxvasse, Missouri, and John Meurer of Vichy, Missouri - will deliver the response of the Class of 2030.

During the Columns Ceremony, all new students pass through Westminster’s historic Columns, located in the heart of campus, which are all that remain of the original administration building destroyed by fire in 1909. They are not to approach the Columns again until graduation, when they walk through in the opposite direction and out into the world.

ABOUT WESTMINSTER COLLEGE: Founded in 1851 and home of Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech, Westminster College is ranked prestigiously by The Princeton Review as one of 151 “Best Colleges in the Midwest” for 2026 and is among a select group of full-participation institutions nationwide in the Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition, as recognized by the Higher Learning Commission. New graduates experience a more than 90% placement rate within six months of graduation, while Westminster alumni are in the top 16% nationwide for graduate earnings. The only National Liberal Arts college in Missouri, Westminster has long been recognized for its focus on educating and inspiring students to make an impact on the world around them. Find out more about Westminster College by visiting our website. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Sarah Backer at 573-220-9038 or Sarah.Backer@WCMO.edu.
*All events are subject to change. For those who cannot attend, following the Columns Ceremony, the New Student Convocation Ceremony will be livestreamed on the College’s website and both its Facebook and livestream pages.