#十大娱乐彩票平台Grads2023: Meet 这 year’s student 毕业典礼 speakers
Metropolitan 社区 College 历史 will be made at 这 year's 毕业典礼 on Thursday, May 18. It will be the first time we hold two ceremonies: 1 p.m. 和 6 p.m. at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.
With fewer grads at each ceremony — in the neighborhood of 450 at each, plus friends 和 family — the program would be shorter anyway. (的 goal is 90 minutes, which includes announcing the name of each grad as they cross the stage.) Another time-saving change 这 year is no guest speaker.
One ceremony in years past meant one student speaker. This year, however, there will 是两个. It’s our pleasure to introduce them to you.
Thomas Creach, 1 p.m.
He dropped out of high school his senior year but ultimately found his way back to
一间教室. Now 30, Thomas will not gloss over his life’s detours when he addresses
fellow 十大娱乐彩票平台 graduates.
“I want to talk to people in the crowd who are graduating by the skin of their teeth but they did it,” he says, adding: “You’re not just the worst thing you’ve done. … You will have the ability to define yourself on your own terms.”
Thomas, who grew up in Johnson County, would work as a professional baker 和 restaurant 经理. Eventually he earned a high school equivalency diploma 和, in Summer 2018, started at 十大娱乐彩票平台-Penn Valley. He is graduating with an associate in arts degree.
He’s moving on to UMKC to earn at least two degrees in what has become his passion: 历史. Inspired by 十大娱乐彩票平台 faculty 和 experiences here, including the annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Southern historic sites, he plans to become a 历史 instructor. And he’d like to return to Penn Valley to teach.
Right now, he’s also finishing up an 十大娱乐彩票平台 documentary on the 历史 of the basketball program at Penn Valley.
Thomas says his college career started out strong but sputtered a little later. 的 p和emic was part of it. Still, “十大娱乐彩票平台 has worked with me every single step 和 not judged me, condemned me or dismissed me,” he says. Another reason why he’ll be back.
Aden Bakken, 6 p.m.
Aden, 27, of Platte City completed his associate in arts degree last December. As
a student speaker, he is representing 十大娱乐彩票平台-Online, although he also took classes on
the Maple Woods campus.
In just a few weeks he’ll start a summer class at UMKC, where he’ll likely pursue a degree in electrical 和 computer engineering. He loves math, science 和 physics , 这 close to a straight-A GPA at 十大娱乐彩票平台: He got just one B (his first semester).
His goal is to work in robotics — designing robots that will do jobs that aren’t safe for humans (like mining or high-risk construction work) or tasks that would enhance 我们的生活. In Aden’s own life, he would appreciate a robot that did chores around 这所房子. “Definitely do the laundry,” he says. “That’s the biggest thing.“包括 折叠.
Was there an 十大娱乐彩票平台 class that st和s out for him? One was a chemistry course taught by adjunct instructor Hubert Ekpoh. He immediately explained the connection between his class 和 the real world, Aden says — no doubt particularly beneficial for new 学生.
It was Aden’s final semester, but “if it had been my first semester, I’d have been like, ‘I’m staying here!’ ”