COLLEGE TO GRADUATE 1,200 STUDENTS AT MID-YEAR COMMENCEMENT
Graduate Speaker Chose Nursing to Strengthen Ties to Family, Farm and Community
Ceremony to be shown live on MATC Website
Madison Area Technical College (MATC) will graduate about 1,200 students at its mid-year commencement ceremony on Thursday, December 21, 6:30 p.m. in the H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium, MATC Truax, 3550 Anderson Street, Madison. Graduates from MATC’s Madison campus, as well as its Fort Atkinson, Portage, Reedsburg and Watertown campuses, will participate in the ceremony. The event will be broadcast via a live video stream with DVDs of the ceremony available for later purchase. (Scroll to the bottom of the Graduation Information page for information.)
Dawn Klecker, a wife and mother who also operates a small farm with her family in Jefferson, Wisconsin, has been selected as the graduate speaker for the ceremony. She will graduate with honors from MATC’s Associate Degree Nursing Program. She says she decided to train for a new career as a way to enhance her close ties to her community.
“After the birth of my second child, I made a decision to leave a career in accounting to explore nursing. I always enjoyed working with numbers, but felt something was missing and that nursing would allow me to contribute in a new and important way to our community.”
Klecker already has accepted a position at Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital. She says her decision to take on the challenges of returning to school, even while caring for two young children and working on the farm with the husband and parents, was affirmed when she witnessed the care her grandfather received at the hospital.
“I had started to take classes in nursing when my grandfather become ill. When I saw how the nurses cared for him around the clock, I decided this is what I really wanted to do.” Klecker plans to continue her education by pursuing a bachelor’s and possibly a master’s degree in nursing.
Other speakers at the ceremony will be MATC District Board Chair Gerald R. McGowan and MATC President Bettsey L. Barhorst.
Of the graduates, 388 will receive two-year associate degrees or diplomas and 777 will earn one-year or shorter-term diplomas. Among the college’s more than 100 academic and occupational programs,
those graduating the most students this semester include: Nursing, Accounting, Emergency Medical Services, Law Enforcement and Liberal Arts.
One hundred and fourteen graduates will receive academic honors. This honor is reserved for students who have earned a GPA of 3.75 or higher in courses within their programs of study. The Special Service Award will be granted to 13 graduates. This award is given to students for their service in student government, clubs and activities, their demonstrated leadership and initiative in the classroom, and their awards and accomplishments outside of the college. Sixteen graduates are members of the Phi Theta Kappa national honor society.
MATC is one of the largest of the Wisconsin Technical College System’s 16 colleges. It provides “real world smart” education through a comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and science, adult basic education and life enrichment studies and activities, as well as customized employee training. MATC offers associate degrees, vocational diplomas and certificates, and non-degree courses in more than 140 programs of study. The college serves parts of 12 counties in southcentral Wisconsin and offers instruction through five campuses and numerous community locations throughout the district.
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December 18, 2006
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