Graduation a Mother's Day gift for Jackson woman

Mother's Day came a day early for Catherine Wright.

The Jackson woman graduated from Southeast Missouri State University on Saturday. But her real joy came in watching her son, Aaron, walk across the same stage at the Show Me Center to get his college diploma.

"As a mom, I am more proud that my son graduated," she said following commencement. But she said she also felt proud to get a four-year degree herself after putting her college education on hold for several decades.

Aaron Wright was thrilled by his mother's achievement. "I am really proud of her," he said, adding that they are the first two members of their family to attend college.

The Wrights were among more than a thousand undergraduate and graduate students who received diplomas Saturday. School officials said it was one of the largest graduating classes in the university's history.

The graduating class consisted of 897 undergraduates and 146 graduate students. Twenty students graduated with perfect 4.0 grade point averages.

Thousands of friends and relatives of the graduates packed the Show Me Center for the afternoon commencement.

Aaron Wright graduated Saturday with a bachelor of science in education degree. His mother graduated with a bachelor's degree in administrative systems management.

Catherine Wright began college in the 1970s, earning a degree in computer science. "I started out programming with punch cards," she recalled.

She obtained an associate degree in computer science but couldn't afford to continue her schooling.

After retiring from Procter & Gamble, she returned to college in the summer of 2004.

When she started back to school, she said, she never imagined that she and her son would both graduate at the same commencement.

"It kind of worked out pretty nice," she said.

Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins recognized their achievement at commencement.

Aaron Wright said he didn't expect the university president to call attention to their accomplishment. "It was a nice surprise," he said.

The graduating class included Amy Henson of Poplar Bluff, Mo., who is the first student to enroll and graduate from the university's online master of business administration program.

Henson, 36, has a full-time job as financial aid director for Three Rivers Community College.

She did all her graduate work online. "I never set foot on campus, not even for research," she said before commencement.

She is familiar with the campus, having obtained her undergraduate degree at Southeast. But she said Saturday she hadn't set foot on campus for more than three years.

"I think it's absolutely wonderful," she said of being able to get a degree entirely online. "I would not have been able to complete my degree without it."

Commencement speaker Dr. Jerry Caulder of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., an expert in agricultural biotechnology, reminisced about his years at Southeast, from which he graduated in 1964. He told graduates he arrived on campus as a freshman with his clothes packed in two cardboard boxes. He recalled reading the university's list of clothing items that students would need.

"I looked at the list, and the only thing I had enough of were socks, and they were all white," he said.

The son of sharecroppers in Gideon, Mo., Caulder told the graduates to have a vision of who they are, where they came from and what they want to accomplish in life.

And not to worry so much about grades.

"I've got good news for all of you C students," he said. "Nobody is going to ask about it, ever."

The remark drew applause from many graduates.

Caulder told the graduates, "Don't worry about your first job, just get one."

He also told students to pursue jobs they love. "I've also learned that money is a real lousy way to keep score," he said.

"There are millions of ways to get from birth to death," he said. "Trust me, they all work."

University officials presented Caulder with an honorary doctorate in science, only the seventh person to receive an honorary degree from Southeast.

Dobbins apologized to the crowd for the limited parking around the Show Me Center. Ongoing construction of an aquatic center and a parking structure just west of the Show Me Center prevented the university from using some 500 parking spaces.

As a result, the university transported guests on shuttle buses from outlying campus lots, local hotels and West Park Mall to the Show Me Center. More than 400 people relied on the buses to get to commencement, officials said. The buses also returned guests to the various parking lots and motels after commencement.

The shuttle system drew praise from some of the passengers, including those who boarded the buses at local motels, school officials said.

"It worked out great, I thought," said campus public safety officer Ken Gullett.

At commencement, Southeast also announced the six Alumni Merit Awards winners for this year.

The winners: Cindy Mobley of St. Peters, Mo., who is a product development manager for Maritz company; Andrew Comstock, principal at Sikeston Junior High School; Cynthia Fox of Tucson, Ariz., a research lecturer for the neurology department at the University of Arizona; Tracey Glenn, director of conference development for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jefferson City; Nathan Springer, an assistant professor in the plant biology department at the University of Minnesota; and Mary Katherine Landewee, an agriculture specialist with SEMO MFA Agri Services in Chaffee, Mo.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123