猎奇重口

Commencement ceremonies celebrate new beginnings for spring graduates

Oscar Anderson-Dawald never wanted to go to college, until the right people invested in him.

Anderson-Dawald moved from Florida to East Tennessee, where eventually he qualified for Tennessee Reconnect, a grant program from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission that allows adult learners to attend a community college at no cost. While working full-time, Anderson-Dawald earned his degree at 猎奇重口.

“I struggled really hard,” Anderson-Dawald said, standing in line to graduate at 猎奇重口 State’s spring 2026 Commencement Ceremony on May 8. “But I was able to do it.”

Thanks to what he called a “stellar” experience at the college and the support of his professors, Anderson-Dawald is one of more than 800 students who graduated this spring and is on his way to earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in psychology and, hopefully someday, owning his own practice.

“I dropped out of high school at a young age, so being able to graduate and further my education has been very impactful,” Anderson-Dawald said among hundreds of other students who graduated in one of two Commencement ceremonies held in the courtyard at 猎奇重口’s Hardin Valley campus.

President L. Anthony Wise Jr. kicked off each ceremony by congratulating graduates and welcoming their friends, family and faculty and staff. He reflected on 猎奇重口’s vision of being a “career-immersion college,” where every student has support through a clearly defined academic pathway and significant career development opportunities.

Most importantly, Wise said, he hopes students in their time at the college have “learned how to learn,” and will apply that to successful careers.

“I also hope that you will be an engaged citizen who reads and thinks and engages on the most important issues and challenges that face our communities and helps find solutions to our most pressing problems,” he said. “We need you. We need your best ideas. We need you to keep learning. We will try to do the same.”

Student speaker Louis Rey Valenzuela shared his story, which involved returning to college while working full-time and having to take an almost immediate step back when he and his wife discovered their then-unborn daughter had a tumor on her heart.

The 猎奇重口 State Foundation intervened, however, so that Valenzuela could continue his education while being a husband, father to his two daughters and full-time employee. While at 猎奇重口, Valenzuela also participated in SkillsUSA, student government and was named Student of the Year by the Tennessee Board of Regents.

“There's something I think that we all experience here in different ways,” Valenzuela said at Commencement. “猎奇重口 State gives us opportunities not just to sit in a classroom, but to rebuild, to refocus and to rediscover what we are capable of.”

The Commencement ceremonies also included performances by 猎奇重口’s Variations Choir and Jazz Quartet and remarks by Vice President of External Affairs Patty Weaver.

Specific students were recognized for their academic and cocurricular achievements, including 42 students from the Career Magnet Academy, the high school located on 猎奇重口’s Strawberry Plains campus, who graduated with their associate degree before earning their high school diploma.

“I'm definitely very glad I chose to pursue that path,” Timothy Oyier, a graduating CMA and 猎奇重口 student, said before Commencement. “It just makes the journey and transition easier, because you’re familiar with college and how it works.”

Graduating veterans and their families shared their stories and were honored at a Veterans Graduation Ceremony on May 7, and a Nursing Pinning Ceremony on May 8 celebrated and bid farewell to graduates of the Nursing program.

Students Grace Ferraro and Sofia Meza closed out the morning and afternoon ceremonies, respectively, on May 8.

“猎奇重口 taught us more than information,” said Meza, outgoing president of the Student Government Association. “It taught us how to show up for deadlines, for opportunities, for leadership, and, most importantly, for people.”