Gladuation day at last
May 15—Sultan Almulla stood in front of a line of soon-to-be graduates with a beaming grin.
He and his fellow students were preparing to file onto Harris Field on Friday morning for the first of a three-part, socially distanced commencement ceremony at Lewis-Clark State College.
This one featured the school's career and technical education graduates.
"I'm super happy," he said. "I woke up this morning just happy."
The young man with thick-framed black glasses and sneakers with a pink-and-teal tartan pattern didn't know if this day would ever come. When he first started his education, he struggled. So he scaled back on his course load to keep from being overwhelmed. It made for a long road.
"It took me a while longer than usual — seven years — to finish, but I finally made it," he said.
Almulla plans to return home to Saudi Arabia following graduation and hopes his B.A. in information technology lands him a job. He said his family would be watching the ceremony via a live stream.
"They are super proud," he said, then mentioned that his mother wishes for him to "'just come back to us.'"
Barbara Long, of Lewiston, decorated her mortar board with the words "Mom and Dad I did it."
But her parents weren't sitting in the stands of the baseball field during the 9 a.m. ceremony.
"They are in heaven," said the 59-year-old nontraditional student, who also took a circuitous route to her degree.
"I started in the '80s and, after raising my family, I decided I wanted to finish my schooling," she said.
She worked full time as a certified nursing assistant while going to school and said support from her family helped greatly. She hopes to soon get a job in child care and, in the future, open her own child care business.
Some graduates already have jobs lined up. Dylan Anderson, of Deary, and many of his classmates in LCSC's diesel mechanics programs already are working in their chosen field.
"If you can't find a job, you aren't looking," he said.
Wyatt Blessinger, of Notice, Idaho, said even though he, Anderson and other graduates of the diesel mechanics program already have jobs, their degrees matter.
"It gives us more value to our employers," he said.
Lewis-Clark State College President Cynthia Pemberton told all 84 career technical education graduates that completion of their education is a "major life accomplishment," and noted this past pandemic-filled year presented unusual challenges.
"This has been an extraordinary year, and we did the improbable. And not only did we do it, we did it well," she said.
The school held a ceremony for Liberal Arts & Sciences graduates at noon and one for professional studies at 3 p.m.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
