Southeast graduates record number of students

Students in Southeast Missouri State University's first graduating class of 2012 entered the post-college world Saturday while setting several records for the university.

More than 1,100 students accepted congratulations from Missouri's governor as they crossed the stage, and later from their families and friends at a packed Show Me Center.

Southeast's 139th graduating class consisted of more than 1,300 undergraduate and graduate students, the largest class in the university's history.

With a record class came record attendance: Few seats in the Show Me Center's 7,200-seat main arena were empty in the minutes before kickoff of commencement. Around 400 people watched graduation via big-screen TV in overflow spaces setup throughout the facility, and at least 50 watched from their computer as Southeast streamed a live feed of the ceremonies online for the first time, according to the university.

Gov. Jay Nixon served as keynote speaker and delivered a message on using knowledge and experience gained during college to strengthen the economy, embrace technological change and help communities.

"Graduates, take the blueprint your Southeast Missouri State University education has given you, and start building," he said. "Use it to build something no one has ever seen before. Use it to build strong families, vibrant communities and a prosperous state."

Nixon also talked about the importance of small businesses to the state's economy and praised the effect on the region and state from programs through the university's Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

University president Ken Dobbins told short versions of several students' stories to highlight the diversity among the graduates, picking out nontraditional or international students, students with a family tradition of graduating from Southeast or active military members or veterans. He also presented a posthumous honorary bachelor's degree to the parents of Scott T. Wood, a student who died from cancer in the spring semester.

At least 25 family members and friends of Germitrious Dixon, a Sikeston, Mo., native, came to see him receive his bachelor's degree Saturday. Following his walk across the stage, he exited the arena to have photos snapped with them, which took about 20 minutes.

"It means a lot. He covered a big milestone I didn't," said Dixon's father, Tibbie Neal, who traveled from Atlanta to see his son become the first person in their family to graduate college.

Dixon and several of his family members wore buttons bearing a photo of his aunt, Lillian Gross, who died in March.

"She would have been so proud to see him graduate, because we have been behind him all the way," said Dixon's uncle, Henry Gross, of Sikeston.

Saturday's ceremonies began at 2 p.m. and lasted just over two hours, a record length. A normal commencement is an hour shorter. Spring graduations, however, normally have a higher number of qualifying candidates for and participants in commencement exercises, according to university staff.

Kaysie Kelley, 25, from Bloomfield, Mo., received her undergraduate degree in dietetics Saturday. She said she found that being part of such a large class felt a little impersonal but that she enjoyed Nixon's remarks and the overall experience. She will likely go through Southeast's graduation again in a few years, she said, because she is planning to return to the university in the fall to begin work toward a master's degree in human environmental studies.

She may have plenty of company then, too. The university is expecting to continue graduating larger classes as it works toward a 2014 goal of a 12,000-student combined undergraduate and graduate population. More than 11,500 were enrolled in fall 2011.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

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