Office of the President

Commencement is Just the Beginning

By Dr. Marsha Danielson, President Minnesota State College Southeast

Spring is a hectic time for higher education. End-of-year events. Scholarship dinners. Award ceremonies. Retirement luncheons. Senior capstone classes. Students cramming for final exams and lining up summer employment opportunities. Faculty finishing grading, anxious to start their summer break.

Everyone is in a rush to the finish line. For our graduating students, the semester culminates with commencement. A chance to don a cap and gown, walk across the stage and collect their academic award.
 
After all the studies, assignments and late-night cram sessions, earning that certificate, diploma or degree may feel like the ultimate finish line.

Or is it?

Commencement is my favorite time of the year. Hearing the initial notes of Pomp & Circumstance always fills me with emotion. Seeing our students graduate is the reason we get up every day and go to work. It is the culmination of every academic year.

While it provides a celebratory conclusion to everything we’ve been working on all year long, commencement truly signals the beginning, not the end.

Graduation is the first step in a much longer journey, whether to a future career or the next chapter in your education. 

This spring, more than 450 graduates at Minnesota State College Southeast will earn 580 academic awards, ranging from certificates to diplomas to degrees. Those pieces of paper will open doors for our graduates, doors that lead to the next step in their lives. 
 
Perhaps the greatest lesson that our graduates can take with them is that in a world that is constantly changing, all of us need to be constantly learning.

Ethan Balakrishnan is a professional violinist in the Orchestre symphonique de Québec in Quebec City. Despite holding a bachelor’s degree in music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Ethan took a sabbatical this past year to study violin repair and making at Southeast’s Red Wing campus. As he graduates from our program, Ethan will take his newly honed skills back to Canada, where he intends to help repair the string instruments of many of his fellow musicians in the symphony. Ethan’s pursuit of knowledge doesn’t end here. His return trip to Canada includes a detour through Ohio, where he will learn about rehairing bows for string instruments.

Student senator Lincoln Spitzer, another member of the Class of 2026, is earning his degree in Mechatronics. That’s the springboard for him to continue his studies across town at St. Mary’s University beginning this fall.

Laura Scott, our student speaker at commencement, epitomizes what it means to be a lifelong learner.

Originally from La Sueur, Minnesota, Laura is graduating with her associates of applied science degree in business management. She waited more than 10 years to pursue her college education, but she never lost sight of her goal. 

After returning to college in 2024, she said she has learned the value of “teamwork, the power of community and the impact of a collective voice,” during her time at Southeast.

“I also discovered so much about myself—my resilience and dedication—and what I can achieve when I apply focused attention and clear intention to my goals,” Laura told her fellow grads.

 
Rather than looking back on what she’s accomplished, Laura told the Class of 2026 that “an exciting chapter is about to begin.” For her, that chapter involves packing up her camping gear, gassing up her Rav4, heading out to the Pacific Northwest and seeking out her next big adventure

 
It’s that unbridled enthusiasm coupled with that look of accomplishment on the faces of our graduates that makes me love this time of year. Go forth graduates. Draw on your newfound knowledge. Embrace that next challenge or opportunity in your path. And remember, this is only the beginning.