SAN DIEGO (CNS) -- Receiving their diplomas Dec. 12, the first graduates of John Paul the Great Catholic University were hailed as pioneers and heroes, whose legacy will be remembered by future graduating classes.

Nineteen students earned bachelor's degrees -- 10 in business and nine in communications media -- during a graduation ceremony in St. Francis Chapel at Mission San Diego de Alcala.

"A lot of people have gone to a lot of trouble to make this look like every other graduation that you've ever attended," said Derry Connolly, the university's president, in his welcoming address. But despite the mortarboards and graduation gowns, he said, "there is something very different about this graduation."

That something, Connolly said, is the belief among graduates and their parents that "there is nothing more important" than deepening one's relationship with Jesus. As a result, he said, they "took an incredible risk" in choosing John Paul the Great Catholic University, a brand-new school with an accreditation process still under way and a temporary campus.

The San Diego-based university was founded in 2003 with the hope that its intensive, hands-on curriculum would produce the next generation of Catholic innovators and entrepreneurs in the fields of media, business and technology. The university, which prides itself on its Catholic identity, welcomed its first students in September 2006.

Film professor Christopher Riley asked the graduates to think back to a lesson he taught them in their freshman year about the nature of storytelling.

"A story is a hero's struggle against an obstacle to reach a goal," he said. "Today, we come to the end of the story you've all been living. You're the heroes of this story ... and now you need a new story."

Noting that the best stories are those in which the heroes have the best goals, Riley offered the following as a worthy goal for each graduate: "Light up the darkness."

He urged the graduating business students to "go into the darkness and create jobs for those who have no jobs" and called upon the media graduates to tell "stories that help the ones wandering in darkness find their way home."

At John Paul the Great Catholic University, students learn "the fundamentals of building a business from the ground up," Connolly said.

In their first two academic years, Connolly said, students learn what is necessary to create and run a successful business. Then, during their junior and senior years, the students form teams that are responsible for creating a viable business plan. Through this process, he said, students develop "a great appreciation for the mechanics of a business."

Connolly said about four or five student plans have already been developed into revenue-generating businesses. Other members of the first graduating class continue to pursue their business plans with the expectation of financial success in the near future.

Business student Justin Wilga graduated as co-founder of his own company, Creative Rhetoric. The company serves nonprofits and other organizations by helping them craft their messages in the most effective ways. Creative Rhetoric was founded after the organizers of Proposition 4 sought the university's help with their campaign; the proposition was a parental-notification initiative that appeared on the November 2008 ballot in California.

By graduation, Wilga said his company already had committed revenues of about $6,500 and would be working to increase those numbers to $20,000 for the next quarter. He will continue to work part time with Creative Rhetoric, holding another part-time job until he can grow his company into a full-time enterprise.

Wilga told The Southern Cross, San Diego's diocesan newspaper, that the university's hands-on approach to studying business was "an awesome way to just experience business from essentially a CEO-level viewpoint, and you don't find that opportunity very often with a young college graduate."

Communications media graduate Mollie O'Hare said she "wanted to do something practical, so when I graduated ... I could just jump right into something." She found John Paul the Great Catholic University to be "the perfect fit," a Catholic school that would provide her with practical experience in the mass media.

As a student, O'Hare founded Yellow Line Studios, a company that produces Web series, short films and feature films on controversial contemporary issues. The company's name, she said, comes from its "middle-of-the-road approach" which is intended "to get both sides to dialogue" on issues that sometimes can devolve into "a shouting fest."

O'Hare is currently at work on "Bump," a Web series about three pregnant women contemplating whether or not to carry their unborn children to term.

Starting in 2009, communications media students have been able to pursue their degree with an emphasis in either screenwriting, directing and producing, interactive media or video journalism. Meanwhile, business students have been given the opportunity to major in business with an emphasis in the "business of entertainment."

In 2011, the university also plans to offer a bachelor's degree in technology with an emphasis in either video game development or computer engineering. Future degrees will include an master of business administration in politics and bachelor's degrees in fashion or music.

The university plans to receive its regional accreditation by 2012 and be housed on a permanent campus by 2015.

Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops