PITTSBURG, Ks. — It’s a big day for college students across the Four States as their academic journey comes to an end.
This year over 1,100 students earned degrees at Pittsburg State University.
Those students and their families gathered at the Robert W. Plaster Center before marching across the stage in the John Lance Arena.
This year graduates represents 28 states, 12 countries, and a couple of generations of Gorilla Nation.
“It’s been interesting to see the difference in experience they had because it’s a completely different campus from when they went and when I went, I really don’t think the Tech Center was built and all that,” says Grayson Johnson, PSU Graduate.
“My wife and I get season passes here every year and it’s like coming back and kind of reliving a life again that we really enjoyed, we both met here and I would be a second generation and my son’s a third through Pitt State,” says Jonathon Johnson, Grayson’s Father & PSU Alum.
Today’s commencement at PSU also marks the end for another member of Gorilla Nation.
This will be the final graduation Dr. Steven Scott will serve as President of Pittsburg State University before he retires.
“We’re all about students and we’re all about making this an experience for them but sure there are some emotions today for me, recognizing this will be the last time I precide over a commencement and I’m just really proud of this place and the kind of student’s we attract and the students that we graduate. But most importantly this day is for our graduates and they’re so excited to wrapping up a college career and really glad to be gorillas, there’s no doubt about that,” says Dr. Steven Scott, PSU President.
Dr. Scott himself graduated from Pittsburg in 1973 and 1984.
He became president of Pitt State back in 2009 and will be retiring at the end of the month.