Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- LSU alumnus and actor Michael Papajohn delivers the commencement address during LSU's summer graduation ceremony Friday. Papajohn advised the students to surround themselves with great people.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Army Lt. Col. Lawrence Burns, left, administers a commission oath to new Army 2nd lieutenants, from left, Michael Gaul, Thomas Plunett, Mitchell Daugherty, Gerard Smith and Justin Pigford. The students were among the 686 who graduated during LSU's 278th commencement ceremony on Friday.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Chancellor Mike Martin, left, is presented Friday with a University Medal for his work at LSU by Interim LSU System President Bill Jenkins. Martin is leaving LSU to become president of the Colorado University System. LSU's 278th commencement ceremony featured 686 graduates at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Megan Lamb, who received a degree in Food Science & Technology, sports a mortarboard message relevant for graduates Friday at the LSU summer commencement at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Hayley Kropog, 22, a four-year Tiger Girl and broadcast journalism major from Hammond, receives the University Medal from Chancellor Mike Martin during commencement ceremonies Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The University Medal is awarded to the school's top graduate.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Former LSU linebacker Darry Beckwith receives his diploma from Gaines M. Foster, the Dean of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences, during commencement ceremonies Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Advocate staff photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCK - Lake brigade - Volunteers David Marschall, left, and Ross Roussel load American lotus into a boat Friday morning on University Lake near Stanford Avenue. Volunteers are removing the plants to keep them from spreading across the lake. Anyone interested in joining the group can email Matt Thomas at parrymattt@aol.com.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Amanda Gustin laughs after taking a picture of Brady Hotard next to a tiger statue prior to LSU's summer commencement Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Advocate staff photo by BRYAN TUCK - Afternoon picnic - Babysitter Madeline Guidry, left, has an afternoon picnic with siblings Megan, 6, and Bryce Lege, 5, in Gus Godcheaux Park during a recent outing in Abbeville. Guidry said the three traveled in from Perry to enjoy the park.

Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling - Blocking Bird-- A mockingbird perches atop an old football helmet on a blocking sled Thursday near Istrouma High's football practice field.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER - Cool down - Hailey Landry, 9, of Walker, right, and her cousin, Andrew Samson, 12, of Central, enjoy the Shaw Center for the Arts fountain Friday afternoon in downtown Baton Rouge. Their grandmother, Kate Saniford, brought them to the capital city.

Advocate staff photo by HEATHER MCCLELLAND - The Rev. Pat Mascarella and his guide dog, Pace, walk to the Main Street Market one Saturday morning. Mascarella visits two vendors in particular, one for bread and one for produce.

Advocate staff photo by ADAM LAU - Wounded Army veteran Cpl. Jeffrey Argrave, 24, right, is saluted by fellow veterans, many with the Patriot Guard Riders, Thursday during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new home to be built for him in the Renaissance subdivision of Prairieville. The Capital Region Builders Association and Homes For Our Troops have teamed up to build the home for Argrave, who suffered major injuries to his spinal column from shrapnel through the neck and a C5 vertebrae fracture in Afghanistan in 2010.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER - Cousins, from left, Mason Sheely, 12, Hudson Sonnier, 10, and Merritt Sheely, 10, wave to passing cars as they promote their lemonade stand on Hundred Oaks Avenue Thursday afternoon. The young entrepreneurs started selling lemonade on Wednesday and have since earned about $20.

Advocate staff photo by RICHARD ALAN HANNON - Eagle Scout project - Boy Scouts of America Troop 58 member Samuel Woods Coniglio, 15, left, and 40-year Lions Club member Bill Simon talk outside Simon's Baton Rouge store Tuesday. Coniglio collected 354 eyeglasses from area businesses and churches in one month's time to donate to the Lions Club for his Eagle Scout project. The Lions Club distributes glasses to needy people throughout the world.

Advocate staff photo by ADAM LAU - Summer spray - McKinley Middle Magnet School student Jordan Francois, 12, lounges in cold fountains at Jambalaya Park's sprayground in Gonzales on Wednesday. Classes for East Baton Rouge Parish public school students begin Aug. 8. 'I wish summer could go all year,' said Francois, who visited the sprayground with children from Blessed Are The Children Daycare.

Advocate staff photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCK - Baton Rouge Magnet High School teachers Heather Hogg, left, April Hammook, center, and Kim Costanza get a look at the school's theater Wednesday morning.

Big Buddy Gary Sanford, an engineer at Exxon/Mobil, from left; cooking assistant Julius Thompson; Sanford's Little Buddy Contrell Dalton, 8; LSU Food Science graduate student John Shackleford; Ashanti Thomas, 11; and her Big Buddy, Bettsie Norton, cook inside Whole Foods Market on Saturday.

Big Buddy Ryan Brown, a Baton Rouge lawyer, helps his Little Buddies, Philip Cole, 9, right, and Gaige Wilcoxson, 11, as Cole selects some peaches Saturday.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG - Guard Josh Williford carries his mattress to his apartment as LSU football players report Wednesday in at the West Campus Apartments.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG - Kamran Abdollahi, left, a professor in the Southern University Department of Urban Forestry, and Diane Losavio, executive director of Baton Rouge Green, stand near the Scotlandville Parkway where Losavio's organization planted dozens of trees. A study by Abdollahi found that Baton Rouge has one of the largest tree canopies in the country.

Advocate staff photo by HEATHER MCCLELLAND - Clowning around - Children and adults, from left, Sunny Day, 7, Ashley Messina, Savanna Giron, 7, Patricia Morris, and Arashay Ratcliff, 3, perform a dance taught by Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey's clown Dean Kelley and the Ringlettes on Tuesday in North Boulevard Town Square. Children received clown wigs and noses and were invited to participate in a dance to celebrate National Clown Week. The circus will be in town Thursday through Sunday.

Advocate staff photo by TRAVIS SPRADLING - New fire station - The Baton Rouge Fire Department had a grand opening ceremony Tuesday for its new Fire Station No. 13 at 835 Sharp Road. The new station replaces the old one, which was built in 1966 at the same location. The new building is about 10,000 square feet in size, according to a Fire Department news release. It has room for three bays for several pieces of Fire Department equipment and personnel to man each unit. The architect for this project was Crump Wilson Architects. The contractor was J.F. Juge Construction.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER - Police Recruits - Baton Rouge Police Academy recruits, clockwise from bottom left, Deena Clark, Solomon Ona, Brandon Blackwell, Byron Boudreaux and Brandon Boudreaux, watch Monday as Cpl. Stewart Tate demonstrates proper footing for formation maneuvers. Monday was the first day of training for the class of 34 recruits, who Chief Dewayne White selected from a pool of 350 applicants. This year's 21-week class includes six women and 28 men. Upon graduation, the recruits will spend a 16-week field officer training program.

Advocate staff photo by JAMES MINTON - Repainting history - Sophomore Zachary High School football players Evan Pace, left, and Gabe Hannum tape windows on the Zachary railroad depot building Monday before their fellow players begin painting the historic structure. Although trains no longer run through Zachary, the depot, built about 1885, is a reminder of Zachary's beginnings as a stop on a rail line between New Orleans and Memphis, Tenn. While the sophomore football players worked on the depot, baseball players put down forms for a sidewalk in another part of the city's Historic Village.

Advocate staff photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCKMike Ruth works in the ginger garden at the Burden Center. In exchange for his free labor, the retired physician is given some latitude about what goes in the garden next door to the center's administration building.

Advocate staff photo by Arthur D. Lauck - David Bunch surfs the Internet on one of the computers at the West Feliciana Library in St. Francisville. If one of the nine computers breaks, it will not be replaced due to state budget cuts.

Advocate staff photo by Arthur D. Lauck - Ialiayah Sullivan, 6, plays a game on one of the computers at the West Feliciana Library in St. Francisville. If one of the nine computers breaks, it will not be replaced due to state budget cuts.

Advocate staff photo by RICHARD ALAN HANNON - Baton Rouge firefighter Blake LeMoine, left, and Capt. Kearney Foster dish out their dinner July 19 before sitting down with the rest of their co-workers at Station 12 on Government Street in downtown Baton Rouge.

Advocate Staff Photo by Travis Spradling - Parry 'Matt' Thomas, left, shakes hands with volunteer Greg DuCote as DuCote departs after a morning spent clearing brush along the shore of University Lake between East Lakeshore and South Lakeshore drives.

Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling - At the Juneteenth celebration at BREC's Gus Young Park, Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Riley Harbor, an experienced chess player, helps, from left, Darrien Smith, 10, his brother, Dustin Smith, 7, and Semion Bradley, 17, on June 16.

Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling - Biologist Linda Beall gives a hummingbird a sweet drink for energy after measuring and banding it during the Feliciana Nature Society's annual Feliciana Hummingbird Celebration Saturday at the Tunica home of hummingbird enthusiast Carlyle Rogillio.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER - Ray J's College of Hair student Travis Joiner gives Walter Wangen, 3, a fresh haircut at Saturday's Back to School Expo in advance of the start of the new school year. Walter and his family recently moved to the Baton Rouge area from Minnesota, and his parents are hoping to enroll him in Wildwood Elementary's prekindergarten program.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER - Alajiah Copeland, 3, left, leads Reagan Norris, 4, and Dajai Copeland, 5, on a chase during the East Baton Rouge school system's Back to School Expo at McKinley Middle Academic Magnet School Saturday afternoon. Reagan and Dajai are both preparing to start kindergarden Aug. 8.

Advocate Staff Photo by Travis Spradling - Biologist Linda Beall studies beak markings to estimlate a captured hummingbird's age during the Feliciana Nature Society's annual Feliciana Hummingbird Celebration Saturday. The event was held at the rural residence of hummingbird enthusiast Carlyle Rogillio in Tunica.

Advocate staff photos by HEATHER MCCLELLAND - Danny Vaughn helps his son, Gannon, 9, tune his pipes before competing in the Red Stick Regional solo bagpipe competition Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge. Gannon has been playing bagpipes since age 6, and his father is also a bagpiper.

Advocate Staff Photo by Travis Spradling - Lowell Landry bikes down Stanford Avenue past a large pile of brush cleared by volunteers along the shore of University Lake, between East Lakeshore and South Lakeshore drives. American lotus fill the shallows of the lake, foreground.

Advocate staff photo by BRYAN TUCK - Ethel Young, from left, Alberta Martin and Katie Antoine participate in a candlelight vigil for Keiosha Felix, who has been missing from the Duson area since April 30.