A month ago, Kenneth White was fairly certain he wouldn’t be walking in Purdue University Northwest’s spring commencement ceremony at the Hammond campus.
He proved himself wrong because while he might not have been walking, exactly, crutches helped the 25-year-old Lake Village man pick up his bachelor’s degree in electrical computer engineering technology during the first of two graduation ceremonies Saturday afternoon. White, injured in a school-related motorcycle accident, showed off his range of motion in his leg after snapping a picture of his fellow graduates.
“I can’t believe I’m here today. It’s insane,” White said.
Ralph Mueller, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, told the graduates that their being there lent itself to three ideas: innovation, impact and continuing to improve. The innovation side shows their past in that they came to the university with a set of ideas and values but their readiness to learn taught them to grow.
The impact side shows their futures, he said.
“All the academic work you did is no good if it can’t be shared,” Mueller said. “With your dedication, you will make your academic learning have impact.”
The students will continue to improve as long as they go through the doors their education has opened as well as any others that open along the way, he said. They can always exit whatever door they go through if it’s not the right one, but they need to have the courage to go through, he said.
Raven Osborne, of Gary, showed immense courage over the course of her college career at PNW, spokesman Wes Lukoshus said. The 18-year-old senior at 21st Century Charter School in Gary received her bachelor’s degree Friday evening – two weeks before she’ll graduate from high school.
“One of the requirements of 21st Century is that students need to take at least one college course on campus to get the experience of being in college. Seven of them took enough courses to get an associate’s degree, but Raven wanted to go on ahead,” Lukoshus said. “We called the state to see whether that would be an issue, and the state said, ‘no.’ And 21st Century paid for it.”
Osborne never said a word to her fellow students about still being in high school, Lukoshus said. But by Friday night, everyone in the gym knew. The school had her receive her diploma last.
“She received a standing ovation, from everyone, even the students,” Lukoshus said.
As another one of the 819 students to participate in the ceremonies, White said he started out as a mechanical engineer because of his love for motocross racing. He was already a mechanic but decided computers were a cleaner and lighter way to work.
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For his senior project, White created a data telemetry system/GPS lap timer for his own motorcycle that measures tire suspension and usage, and uploads the data for later review. He was working on the project when he wiped out on his bike.
“It’s a really good project, and I’m proud of it,” White said. “My friends in class wondered if I was going to be able to get it finished, but I did.”
Alejandra Almendarez, 22, of East Chicago, also took on a tough project for her senior thesis: a web accessibility site for the town of Munster. Her work paid off; she’s now in talks with the municipality to use parts of her creation, she said.
“Today means everything to me because it wasn’t easy to get through,” she said of her degree in graphic design.
State Rep. David Ober, a 2009 PNW graphics design technology graduate, gave the keynote addresses at the Friday and Saturday ceremonies. Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. will keynote the school’s Monday ceremony, Lukoshus said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.