Two Coushatta students were awarded degrees this summer by Louisiana Tech University. The school held its summer commencement ceremony Thursday, August 16, in the Thomas Assembly Center. Graduates from Coushatta and the degrees they earned are:
Courtland Macmurphy Haskett earned a Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering Technology and Katie Marie Oliver was awarded her Bachelor of Science. Haskett and Oliver are among 292 students awarded degrees during the single summer commencement ceremony in the Thomas Assembly Center.
During her commencement address, Dr. Angela Kennedy, CEO of the Commission on Health Informatics and Information Management Education and a former faculty member at Louisiana Tech, suggested to the graduates that they’d probably shared many of the same Tech experiences; Kennedy completed undergraduate and graduate work at Tech, then spent 19 years on the University faculty before retiring in Oct. of 2017.
“I’ve spent half my life on the Tech campus,” she said. “I know that at times, it seemed like college would last forever. Then just like that, in the blink of an eye, here we are.”
And still, this is only the beginning. “Education never ends,” Kennedy said. “You’ll never stop learning; you’ll never stop researching; you’ll never stop searching for new information.”
In addition to their diplomas, the graduates from each of Tech’s five academic colleges and the Graduate School received their Tenet Medallions inscribed with the 12 Tenets of Tech and their year of graduation. The Tenets of Tech are guiding principles and personal characteristics that students and graduates are expected to embrace and uphold during and after their time at Tech.
“The tenets will still be valuable to you if you continue to make them a part of who you are,” Tech president Dr. Les Guice told Tech’s most recent graduating class. “I’m looking forward to seeing the positive difference you’ll make in our world.”
Summer commencement officially marks the end of the summer quarter at Louisiana Tech. Fall quarter classes begin on Sept. 6.
