Eureka’s Winter Commencement is scheduled for December 14, 2024, at 10 a.m. in Becker Auditorium in the Cerf College Center. From different ages to different majors, graduates come in all shapes and sizes. December graduation has less students but in no way is it less of a feat. As the holidays quickly approach, the pressures of graduation grow for graduates.
As a final farewell, the Pegasus wanted to give the December graduates a final chance to say goodbye to the school they’ve come to know and love.
Seniors are often filled with a variety of different emotions when confronting the end of their experience at Eureka. Hailie Miles is an elementary and special education major who will be graduating this December. She has loved her time at Eureka and had a lot to say about leaving.
“When I think about leaving on a deeper level it makes me want to cry. I’ll miss all of the friends and professors I met while I was here” Miles said.
Cooper Basnett, a fifth year senior from Russellville, Missouri, has enjoyed his four and half years here. With his football career coming to a close at the end of his sophomore year, he still enjoyed being at school and has become inspired by the Kinesiology/ Exercise Science majors.
One important task that every college has is to make their students feel prepared and ready when they leave.
“I would say that for my major, Eureka has done a good job of preparing me for both elementary and special education since they go together so much,” Hailie said.
Even with a lot of changes in professors and staff at Eureka over the last few years, Basnett was able to learn and become prepared for the next step into the real world.
“My plan after college is to get something within my field and to help people recover from injury, hopefully I make an impact at a hospital or a fitness center,” Cooper said.
Change is inevitable and many graduates have strong opinions about how Eureka should change based on their experiences.
“If I could change one thing at Eureka, it would be how they teach us to do lesson planning. From my experience, lesson plans are done completely differently when you are actually teaching,” Miles said.
“For the future, Eureka needs to be able to prepare the kinesiology majors with more resources to get them where they need to be.” Basnett said.
Whether students enjoyed their time at Eureka or not, they often have a lot to be thankful for when they leave.
“This is going to sound like a cheese ball, but I’m thankful for the memories, experiences and the staff that were always there for me. I always felt seen by my professors and that they cared about me as a person. I’m thankful that Eureka is small enough to allow professors to get to know their students,” Miles said.
Seniors Tyler Bundren and Edgar Reyes have spent two years writing for the Pegasus and would like to personally thank Professor Phillip Duncan and the rest of Eureka staff for everything they have taught them over the years.
“Everyday has felt like a new adventure and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Eureka’s influence,” said Bundren and Reyes.
At some point during all of the chaos, Eureka starts feeling less like school and more like being part of a community. Students both traditional and transfer spend years at Eureka creating and making a life for themselves. In the end when graduation comes along, students are left saying one last farewell: not only to the school but the life and friends they made along the way.
