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Northeast State Community College celebrated the Fall 2023 graduating classes on Friday as the College awarded degrees and certificates to 532 graduates.
Northeast State awarded four academic certificates, 236 technical certificates, 176 associate of applied science degrees, 16 associate of arts degrees, nine associate of science in teaching degrees, and 234 associate of science degrees.
A total of 56 students graduated cum laude (grade point average, 3.50-3.74); 36 magna cum laude (grade point average, 3.75-3.89), and 36 students graduated summa cum laude (grade point average, 3.89-4.0).
“Graduates, you are to be commended for your persistence and determination in moving forward on your path to graduation. The faculty and staff at Northeast State are honored to have walked this path alongside you, if only for a little while,” said Jeff McCord, Northeast State president. “Be proud of what you have accomplished and where you got your start, but don’t settle; go out in the community, the region, and the world, and make something good happen. Congratulations – we are cheering for you, and we can’t wait to see what you do.”
The College conducted four ceremonies at the Ballad Health Center for the Performing Arts on the Blountville campus. Commencement for the Behavioral and Social Science and Humanities divisions was held at 9 a.m., Health Professions and Science at 11 a.m., Humanities and Mathematics at 1 p.m., and Technologies at 3 p.m.
Graduating students Cody Wine, Lauren Cherry, Hannah Gragg, Shiloh Bronson, and Joseph Lingerfelt served as commencement speakers.
Wine is from Kingsport with a major in Communication Studies; Cherry is from Kingsport with a major in Nursing; Gragg is from Kingsport with a major in University Parallel Pre-Respiratory Therapy; Bronson is from Mount Carmel with a major in Accounting and Business Administration; and Lingerfelt is from Johnson City with a major in Engineering Design Technology. Lingerfelt also received a certificate in Computer-Aided Drafting.
“As we step into our new roles of caring for the community or whatever career we have chosen, we must remember all the ways we made ourselves proud today,” Cherry told her fellow graduates.
“Today is the ending of something beautiful but the beginning of something more fierce. Let us each go forward from today and be the best version of ourselves that I know we can be.”