Young Memorial, Franklin students join SLCC classmates at commencement

More than 700 students from Young Memorial, Franklin and seven other South Louisiana Community College campuses received diplomas and certificates Thursday in fall commencement exercises at Lafayette's Cajundome.

The ceremony displayed the diversity of academic and technical training in a system that has grown from 31 students to more than 15,000 in 25 years.

Chancellor Dr. Vincent June called the graduates "everyday heroes" and said that SLCC ranks 25th among 700 U.S. community college systems in the number of students receiving training certificates.

Graduates received traditional two-year associate degrees in arts and sciences, including training in nursing and allied health fields, plus technical degrees and certificates in fields such as automotive technology, culinary arts, oil and gas production technology, and marine electronics.

Adult education graduates were also part of the ceremony for earning the equivalent of high school diplomas.

The commencement speaker was Karen O. Wyble, vice president of regional community affairs at Ochsner Lafayette General. Wyble began her nursing career at as an ICU cardiac open heart nurse at the hospital. She went on to author successful state legislation to ensure the survival of rural hospitals.

The student speaker was Letessie Pierre, who told her classmates that, as a student and mother of two, she learned that she required dialysis.

She decided to become a social worker counseling dialysis patients and continued her schooling. After she received a kidney transplant, early signs of organ rejection put her back in the hospital for two weeks, threatening her ability to attend her classes.

But Pierre said faculty members stood by her and she finished her first class that semester with a C.

On Thursday, she received her associate degree in general studies with honors, meaning she finished with a grade point average of 3.5-3.79.