OCTC 2018 Commencement to Honor More than 400 Grads

30+ Early College Students

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OWENSBORO, KY (04/05/2018) The Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC) Spring Commencement will be Thursday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the RiverPark Center. The student speaker will be Annie Miller and the keynote address will be delivered by Candance Brake, President/CEO of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce. OCTC expects to award over 1100 individual credentials to over 400 graduates.

Annie Miller is an Early College student from Apollo High School, getting her Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for two-year colleges, and was named to the KCTCS All-Academic Team. The OCTC Phi Theta Kappa chapter earned the first-place regional award for the PTK Honors in Action project, an effort to increase diversity awareness on OCTC's campuses. She plans to double major in mathematics and biology for her baccalaureate degree and has already been accepted to KWC on a full scholarship and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"We are so proud of Annie and all our PTK students, they strive to do their best in the classroom and in their service to the college and community" added Scott Williams, OCTC President.

OCTC will graduate a record number of Early College students, with 31 slated to graduate in May. OCTC's Discover College - Early College program is a collaborative partnership with area high schools and OCTC. Early College students attend classes on campus at OCTC full-time during their junior and senior years of high school.

Williams added, "The growth we've experienced in Early College is a true testament to the excellent collaborative partnerships we have with our area school systems. The program has seen amazing growth from only 4 graduates in our initial 2016 cohort, to 31 this year who will graduate with both the associate degree and high school diploma."

Early College students may participate in extracurricular activities at OCTC and their high school and have the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree simultaneously. Students are eligible to apply for the Kentucky Dual Credit Scholarship and qualify for federal Pell grants through an experimental program--offered at only 44 colleges nationwide--by the U.S. Department of Education.

For more information on OCTC's 2018 Commencement, please contact bernie.hale@kctcs.edu. For more information on OCTC's Discover College - Early College program, please contact nikki.wimpelberg@kctcs.edu.