T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER — The 2023 graduating class at Marshalltown Community College was presented at Friday’s commencement ceremony in front of a packed Student Activity Center on campus.

Marshalltown Community College held its 95th annual commencement ceremony on Friday in an at-capacity Student Activity Center on campus.

The ceremony included graduates that have, or will have completed degree or diploma work in the Fall 2022, Spring 2023 or Summer 2023 terms at MCC or the satellite Iowa Valley Grinnell campus.

Iowa Valley Grinnell Dean MaryAnne Nickle welcomed graduates, faculty and the public to the event.

“We hope that you are leaving us tonight with the skills and confidence to take on new challenges and opportunities,” Nickle said. “Regardless of your future goals that will lead to your success, we’re thrilled to have been a small part of it, of your life’s experience and pleased to celebrate with you this evening.”

Dr. Vincent Boyd, Dean of Academic Affairs at MCC, introduced the event’s commencement address from Kaci Krier, a 2023 graduate with an Associate of Arts originally from Green Mountain.

Krier spoke to those in attendance about the ways that failure shaped her and will shape others.

“Failures that we experience in our careers are … simply road bumps,” Krier said. “They shift us around, but ultimately, we get right back on course.

“It is essentially a way for us to restart and change the path of our own life that we’ve never had before, a way to learn, and sometimes we need to fail in order to continue to move forward in life.”

Nickle also acknowledged the 55 high school seniors that are on track to receive a college degree before even receiving their high school diploma as a part of the group of graduates in attendance.

“Today you are a little bit stronger, tougher, smarter and better than you ever were before you stepped foot on campus,” MCC Provost Robin Shaffer Lilienthal wrote in a message to graduates. “You deserve recognition and acknowledgement for the hard work you have put into your time at Marshalltown Community College.

2023 Marshalltown Community College graduate Kaci Krier of Green Mountain, right, delivered the commencement address at Friday’s commencement ceremony at the Student Activity Center.

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Contact Jake Ryder at 641-753-6611 or jryder@timesrepublican.com.