When it comes to Purdue University Northwest, there’s no doubt that each student who walks across the stage for their diploma will take the world by storm. The two December Commencements on Saturday featured 476 participating graduates at the Hammond campus. Combined with the Westville campus graduation on Friday, a whopping total of 1,216 graduates received their diplomas at the 2017 Fall Graduation.
Thomas Roach, Chair of the Department of Communication and Creative Arts, has been through 60 graduation ceremonies in his 30 years of work at Purdue Northwest.
“I think it’s very meaningful here because we have so many first-generation students,” Roach said. “Even as a faculty member it’s a little bit emotional watching people walk and remembering how they got here and worked their way through all of the challenges that you have as a student. I think these are really great events.”
Dr. Geoffrey Schultz, Professor of Psychology and Special Education and chair of the Faculty Senate at Purdue Northwest, opened the ceremony, followed by speakers and faculty honoring students for their accomplishments. The ceremonies on Saturday honored graduates from every college of Purdue Northwest, including the College of Business, College of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences, College of Nursing, College of Technology, and College of Engineering and Sciences.
Daquan Williams, current Student Government President and communications major, was proud to give a closing response speech to the graduating class.
Brianne Coleman, who earned her Masters in Business, was excited and relieved to receive her degree after long years of hard work in and out of the classroom.
“Now I can celebrate and take a deep breath,” Coleman said. “Between work, school, family, life changes- when the speaker said ‘there’s a lot of adversity,’ there's a lot of adversity, and I saw it all in my two-and-a-half years. It’s nice to finally breathe. I love Purdue Northwest and I always have. We have some really great professors who are really focused on our well-being and making sure we made it through the program. I’m so glad to be an alumna now.”
“I’m proud of her,” her son, Donnell Webster, 14, said. “I just wish the best for her.”
Melissa Sida Diaz graduated with a B.A. in business on Saturday and has big plans for Northwest Indiana by starting a local graphics business in the automotive industry.
“Graduating is a relief but it’s just the beginning,” Sida Diaz said. “The business staff has been very influential. You always get told, ‘You can do anything.’ But then it’s a reality when you start connecting with different people and all that, and you get the right connection- everyone has prepared me so well.”
The guest speaker of the ceremonies, Robert Johnson III, is the President/CEO and founder of Cimcor Inc., a Merrillville-based cybersecurity company. The Purdue Northwest alumnus has grown his company into a global player, servicing the U.S. National Airforce and NASA and being recognized several times for his achievements, including Cimcor Inc.’s No. 75 ranking in CyberSecurity Venture’s top 500 information security companies to watch in the world.
“I think Purdue Northwest graduates are unique in that the university has a focus on meeting real practical needs in business,” Johnson said. “Especially in our area, I think students in the university are uniquely equipped to go into the workforce and be effective at a high level right away. There’s something else that's unique about them; just due to our history here with manufacturing and the evolution outside of that, a lot of times people are second generation. There’s this work ethic here that is stronger than almost anywhere in the United States.”
Northwest Indiana still has a bright future ahead of it as long as students continue to walk across Purdue Northwest’s stage and back into their communities with big dreams and determination.
For more information about Purdue Northwest, go to www.pnw.edu.
