Vermont Technical College hosted its three commencement ceremonies this weekend. Two were held on Friday, May 18th and another was held Saturday, the 19th. Vermont Tech conferred certificates and degrees for 504 graduates from 32 programs. Nursing students were also presented with their Nursing Pins and all Allied Health graduates took their specific oaths.
Janette Bombardier the Vice President of Commercial and Industrial Customer Relations and Business Innovation for Green Mountain Power was selected as the guest speaker. Ms. Bombardier serves on the State of Vermont Workforce Development Board and is a Trustee of the Vermont State Colleges System. She spoke to the graduates about her experience in her career, what she has learned, and how to overcome challenges that arise. In her speech, Ms. Bombardier threw out the old idiom ‘ladder of success’ in favor of a more accurate analogy: Success isn’t a ladder, it’s a jungle gym with more than one way to the top.
“Sometimes you need to have courage and confidence, and leverage your learning and skills to move up and over on the jungle gym – to decide it’s time for a change and that you can reach that next step or reach that next bar or be willing to climb higher.”
President Patricia Moulton presided over her second commencement season with the college and asked graduates to ‘do good’ with their degrees. “My hope for each of you is that you take your new talents and work for good in the world. And good is driven, in large part, by having respect for yourself and others. By doing this, along with the amazing things you will accomplish with your Vermont Technical College education, the world will be a better place.”
Overall there were 147 students (29%) graduating with honors and 409 (81%) of the graduating class were Vermont residents. Other members of the class came from 14 states and four different countries; Saudi Arabia, Australia, Ukraine, and Haiti.