Winter commencement this weekend at SEMO

This weekend nearly 800 Southeast Missouri State University students will walk across the stage and receive their college diplomas.

Southeast's winter commencement ceremony begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Show Me Center.

The largest number of undergraduate and graduate degrees for a winter ceremony in the last decade will be awarded, with 781 students receiving degrees -- 632 undergraduates and 149 master's and specialist candidates.

Dr. Willie Redmond, professor of economics, faculty associate in the Office of the Provost and lead instructor of the Center for Strategic and International Studies course at Southeast, is set to deliver the commencement address.

Dr. Dana Schwieger, professor of management systems in the Department of Accounting and this year's PRIDE Award recipient, will give the Honors Convocation Address. The Honors Convocation will be at 10:30 a.m. in the Show Me Center.

But apart from the piece of paper they'll get, these students will take some valuable lessons and experiences away with them.

We hope that each will reap the benefits of their hard work in school and use their studies as they embark on their next adventures.