Laurels to Ingrid Alexander Streater, who walked across the stage and received her diploma from Livingstone College last weekend even though there were times during her studies there that she needed help walking into the campus library. Streater is in renal failure and on dialysis three times a week — and that’s just the latest of her major health issues. But the 65-year-old great-grandmother didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her goal of graduating from college, which she did with a degree in criminal justice. Streater said she’d like to use that degree to work with young people. She’s already setting a wonderful example for them.

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Dart to the ongoing, horrific plague that is child pornography. We were reminded of it yet again this week when a 66-year-old Salisbury man was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. Authorities say the case tracks to last year, when State Bureau of Investigation agents flagged child pornography activity online and traced it to the man’s home computer. Like anyone else accused of a crime, this man is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but guilty or not in this case, it is indisputable that child pornography is a pervasive problem, a sick addiction that often leads to the total destruction of the lives of the most innocent and helpless among us. If you suspect someone is engaging in it — or that a child is being subjected to it — call law enforcement immediately.

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Laurels to Catawba College for calling in some furry friends to help students through what can be a very stressful time in the life of a student — final exams. Therapy dogs visited the campus this week, and students got to pet and play with them. Studies have shown that interacting with dogs can help lower blood pressure, ease the loneliness of the elderly in nursing homes, and help children overcome allergies. Research also suggests that dogs can help people cope with depression and some stress-related disorders, that just petting them can prompt the release of hormones that make us feel better and decrease stress hormones. They’re miracle mutts! Now if we could get them to come into the newsroom on deadline. … Nah, we’d just stress out the dogs.