BBCC graduation begins new chapter

MOSES LAKE - After graduates at Big Bend Community College received their diplomas, Kevin Scott (with a brand-new degree in welding) was asked what it all meant.

"It means we're preparing for our journey, and the rest of our lives," he said.

"Wow, that was deep," said Mackenze Bemis, a fellow welding graduate.

Maybe, but starting the next step of the journey was a common theme at BBCC Commencement 2013, held Friday evening at Lions Field.

"For me, it's a new stage in my life: the end of one thing and the beginning of something else," said Gabriela Harris, who earned a degree in business and is working on a real estate license and separate certification as an English-Spanish translator. "I'm so excited, because a lot of doors are going to start opening up for me," she said.

Timothy Shull said his welding degree was the accomplishment of a goal he set for himself. He had been a construction worker for more than a decade, and wanted a new career. Caleb Clark will take his new welding certification to a job in Mexico, where his dad is working. "This is the start of a whole new chapter in our lives," Clark said.

Ted Noble is 72 and the oldest graduate in the class of 2013. His wife Jan also graduated, both with art and science degrees. The Nobles are retired from long careers in engineering, and decided it was time to do something else.

Both plan to attend Washington State University. Jan Noble wants a degree in philosophy with a minor in English and history, she said.

Ted Noble is thinking about an English degree with a minor in history, but nothing is cast in stone. As for what he's going to do when he's done with school - well, that's kind of up in the air. "I'm still working on it," he said.

Jan Noble's parents were excited to see her working for a second degree, and supported her the whole way. Her mom died the Tuesday before graduation. Jan said she chose to look at the whole week as the start of a new chapter. "This is a beginning," she said.

"Tonight we recognize the success of 466 graduates in the class of 2013," said BBCC President Terry Leas. The oldest graduate was 72, the youngest 17, he said.

For most of them it was a team effort, Leas said, and graduates applauded the families that had supported them.

Commencement speaker Susan Landon Weinstein said education never really stops, and people have to be ready to learn all their lives, because they will have to adapt their skills to changing times. Students need to stay curious because the world will change with or without their permission, she said.