'Anything worth having is worth working for': OCTC hosts first commencement ceremony at RiverPark

RiverPark Center’s Cannon Hall became the home to the two-night commencement ceremonies for the graduates of Owensboro Community & Technical College on Tuesday evening, with the performing arts venue filled with family, friends and supporters taking part in the celebration for the students earning certificates, diplomas and associate in applied science degrees.

Across the two-day period, OCTC will award 956 credentials to a total of 514 graduates.

For Drakesboro resident Timmy Dorris, Tuesday wasn’t the first time he took part in this event.

“This is my fourth year, believe it or not,” Dorris, 22, said. “I graduated high school, got in the GO FAME (Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education) program, I did industrial maintenance; and while I did it, I took some electrical classes ….”

After graduating the first time, Dorris decided to go back for “more schooling” to “better myself in electrical” before deciding to do HVAC.

On Tuesday, Dorris graduated from the electrical technology program and has already found a job doing HVAC work with the construction and engineering firm Fluor, which he said is contracted through at Logan Aluminum in Russellville.

“I started about three weeks ago,” he said. “... I’m working on big equipment.”

Dorris has found his experience throughout his time at OCTC to be “really phenomenal.”

“I thought it was going to be extremely hard and stressful,” he said, “(but at) OCTC, it almost seemed like teachers are there for you and it just made it (great) overall.”

Jesenia Espinoza of Greenville and Jessica Shannon of Owensboro both met in the surgical technology program two years ago.

“I decided to come here because I actually heard about the program in my high school, and I was really interested,” Espinoza, 19, said, “so I decided to come to Owensboro. … It’s been a great community; everyone has just been very helpful around here.”

Espinoza, who said she is a first-generation college student, finds graduating brought a sense of accomplishment.

“I feel very proud of myself and very proud in representing my family,” she said. “It makes me happy.”

Shannon, 24, decided to attend OCTC for personal and professional reasons.

“It’s the town I live in and it helps me … not only to (be able) to go to work still, but to also stay home close to my son since I’m a single mom,” she said.

And even though the pair walked out of the RiverPark Center with degrees in hand, the work still continues.

“... We’ll take an exam to certify us and then we’ll go on and work at a hospital as a CST (certified surgical technologist),” Shannon said Tuesday. “... After today, we still have a month of clinical left, then we’ll take that exam and then we’ll go on to the jobs that we applied to.”

Lewisport resident Ashley Wagner, who graduated from the nursing program, delivered the student address during Tuesday’s ceremony.

Originally from Florida, Wagner, 38, said the decision to go back to school was because “it was just time for something different” after spending years working as a pharmacy technician.

“... I knew someone that graduated from (OCTC) and I didn’t realize there was a nursing program until I did a little digging around,” she said, “... and the rest is history.”

During her time at OCTC, Wagner, a mother of three, became a member of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s (KCTCS) All-Academic Team, served as the vice president for honors in OCTC’s Phi Theta Kappa honors chapter, and was a member of the IV League nursing club.

Though she felt going back to school in her 30s was “intimidating,” especially being around some students that “just came out of high school,” Wagner felt it “gave me a little bit more drive to try harder.”

“... Everybody was really great and the intimation factor was only present very briefly ….,” she said.

For her fellow graduates, Wagner wanted to emphasize the importance of taking chances.

“With my experience, I find that there are a lot of opportunities for our young people and just people who are going back to school, and I see that there’s a lot of opportunities that are missed,” she said. “If I can give any advice to anybody, it’s to take every opportunity that you can and participate in whatever you can participate in because sometimes you only get to do it once; you’re not always lucky to have a second chance.

“I got fortunate to have a second chance, so I’m doing everything that I can do. … Anything worth having is worth working for — and you’re worth it.”

The second commencement ceremony for OCTC will take place at 6:30 p.m. today, May 8, for associate in arts, associate in fine arts, associate in science and veterinary technology graduates.