By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
“It doesn’t matter when you got here; you got here as quickly as you could.” It’s something Texans have been known to say for many occasions and the sentiment was the overall theme of College of the Mainland’s (COM’s) afternoon commencement ceremony on Saturday.
Some of the graduates had their little ones up in the audience, and when the ceremony seemed a bit boring, they were viewing the streamed version on their daddy’s phone. Other children were already more mature and able to articulate their pride in their parent’s accomplishment.
Angela Way set the tone for the get-it-done-when-you-can-just-get-it-done theme. As the student speaker for commencement, she shared her own long journey to completing her education at COM.
There were students who were closer to the traditional age and had attended classes side-by-side with the older students. They all marched together to “Pomp and Circumstances.”
In his closing remarks, Dr Warren Nichols, President of COM shared with the graduates and attendees his own long journey to completing a doctoral program. He began that journey at a community college and took a detour from his studies to support his young family. Like many of the graduates, he, too, was a first-generation college graduate.
“I’m here to tell you that it does pay off,” he proclaimed as he encouraged students to continue on their academic journeys beyond what they had accomplished at COM.
