Welcome to Graduation.

More than 750 graduates walked in the 2019 Commencement, held Thursday, May 16 at JQH Arena on the Missouri State University campus.

OTC conferred 3,244 degrees and certificates to graduates this year, which includes students who have completed, or are pending completion of, their coursework from the summer 2018 semester through the spring 2019 semester.

The ceremony featured Igho Ekakitie, OTC international graduate, as its student speaker. The Nigerian native graduated from high school in 2008 and worked for nearly six years to raise enough funds to pursue his educational goals in the United States. He enrolled at OTC in 2017, where he studied Biological Clinical Sciences.

Jennifer Moore, the news director and content coordinator for KSMU Radio, gave the evening’s commencement address. Moore previously worked in the Persian Gulf region as a freelance journalist contributing to CNN-International, NPR, and the largest English daily newspaper in the area. Today, she leads a team at Ozarks Public Broadcasting to ensure our community has in-depth news about the region, Washington, D.C., and the world.

Once the degrees and certificates were conferred, OTC Chancellor Hal Higdon concluded the ceremony by congratulating the graduates and welcoming them into the OTC Alumni Association.