by Kelly Rogge
The Kansas City Kansas Community College Field House was filled with screams of joy, excitement and anticipation as the Class of 2015 crossed the stage in their caps and gowns.
More than 360 students participated in commencement exercises Tuesday. The ceremony included graduates from December 2014, May 2015 and summer 2015. More than 1,000 students earned their associate degrees or certificates this year.
“You are here today because of your academic accomplishments,” said Wendell Maddox, KCKCC Board of Trustees chair. “I encourage you to continue your climb toward excellence in your educational journey. I congratulate you and wish you much success in everything you do the rest of your life.”
This was the first year that KCKCC divided commencement into two ceremonies. The first ceremony was for students who earned an associate of applied science and certificates. The second ceremony was for students who earned an associate of science, associate of arts or associate of general studies. In addition, the graduation was available on a livestream through KCKCC’s YouTube page.
Guests at the ceremonies included the Leavenworth High School Junior ROTC Color Guard, who presented the colors; Patrick Boarman, a KCKCC student who performed the national anthem and members of the KCKCC Board of Trustees.
The commencement speaker for this year’s ceremonies was Judge Timothy L. Dupree. He is a 1999 graduate of KCKCC and a Wyandotte High School alumnus. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas in 2001, and then attended the Washburn University School of Law where he earned a Juris Doctorate in 2003. Before becoming a judge of the 29th Judicial District in 2014, he worked as an assistant county attorney in Emporia, Kan., and as an attorney in Wyandotte County.
Dupree explained his own educational journey, which started when a high school counselor told him that he was not college material. He later graduated from both KCKCC and KU before making the decision to go even further and get his law degree. He encouraged students to think about three words as they went through life – hope, believe and act.
“Hope is a feeling of expectation, to want something to happen. Belief is to have confidence in the truth. Act is anything done, being done or to be done,” he said. “You see, what I have learned is that you can sit down and hope, you can lie down and believe, but in order to act, it requires you to do something. In order to act, it requires you to move about. If I had just hoped or had I just believed, I never would have gotten it. I had to act.”
KCKCC President Doris Givens spent part of the ceremony sharing stories about some of the graduates. These stories included:
• Jennifer Richardson, a culinary arts student at KCKCC-TEC who returned to school after being a stay-at-home mom for 10 years. She is the first of her siblings to earn a college degree and is now following her passion of cooking.
• William Elliott, a graduate who started on his journey of earning an associate of science degree in 1974. He returned to school in 2011 and is proof that it is never too late in life to “finish what you have started.”
• Carolyn Marks has not had an easy road to pursuing her lifelong dream of becoming a licensed cosmetologist. Through health issues, personal struggles and financial difficulties, she has excelled in her coursework, passing the written cosmetology exam after only 1,000 hours of study. A member of Phi Theta Kappa and co-founder of the campus group Naturally Designed, she shared graduation with her son Derrick Sims Jr., who was among the certificate recipients.
• Octavio Velasquez, who came to the United States from Guatemala in 2006. He is the first in his family to graduate from college in the U.S.
• Sarah Yenney graduated from high school with honors four years ago and has now earned an associate of arts degree. What is funny is that she was not supposed to get this far. Born with Apert syndrome, many believed she would not have mental capacity to learn beyond elementary school. Her mother, however, did not believe in the word “can’t” and encouraged Sarah in all her endeavors.
• Rachel Mirth received her high school diploma from Washington High School Monday and will earn an associate’s degree from KCKCC this summer, all thanks to dual credit courses through Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools. Her road to success has not been an easy one, but she has managed to persevere. She has focused on the one main goal of living a happy and productive life. She is going to Kansas State University in the fall where she will pursue a degree in biology and later, veterinary medicine.
“I want to congratulate each of you on your willingness, determination and your perseverance to take this very significant step of completing the first two years of your education goals,” said KCKCC President Doris Givens. “Congratulations to all of the graduates.”
For more information on Kansas City Kansas Community College, visit its website atwww.kckcc.edu. To view the 2015 Commencement Ceremonies, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=woWMdRp6LLs.
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
