Northern Arizona University conferred degrees to NAU-Yuma students last week, with administrators telling the graduates that a higher education degree is the correct decision for the future.
“I would like to tell all the graduates tonight, you have made all the right choices,” said NAU President John Haeger. “Whether it is an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D. you receive, you have put yourself in the right place.”
Larry Gould, NAU-Yuma campus executive officer, said students who made the commitment to get a degree are in the starting gate and are ready to run the race. “They’re on a whole new avenue now,” he said. “They’ve done their best to prepare. And we’ve our best to prepare them.”
Jeanette Canela, NAU-Yuma keynote speaker, is receiving her master of education in school counseling and said NAU-Yuma provided her with on-site experience that was important to her.
“NAU-Yuma is an amazing asset to have in the community,” she said. “It offers a lot of opportunity, especially for my program.”
The remarks by Haeger, Gould and Canela were reported by the Yuma Daily Sun.
The graduates included five Yuma-area educational leaders who received doctoral degrees. The five were “hooded” on the commencement stage as the largest graduating class for NAU-Yuma’s doctorate in educational leadership.