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FDLTCC commencement ‘more than just a celebration’ – Cloquet Pine Journal

Published

7 months ago

May 16, 2025

CLOQUET — Before 162 graduates of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College accepted their 219 certificates, diplomas and degrees on Thursday, May 15, two nontraditional students gave advice.

Co-student of the year Kyri Benton recounted her journey “from active drug user and dealer to drug and alcohol counselor in training.” She had just two months of sobriety when she started FDLTCC classes.

“I will have two years clean on June 3 of this year, so if I can make it this far, so can you,” she said.

Benton, who earned a chemical dependency counselor certificate, said she lost friends to overdoses.

“As sad as I get about the ones who are no longer here with me earthside, I choose to stay focused on the gratitude I have for the new relationships that I’ve built and mended,” she said.

Benton encouraged students to prioritize self-care.

“We must be healthy within ourselves — our minds, bodies and spirits — before we can try to help the next person,” she said. “You can’t pour from an empty cup. So as long as you keep yours full you can be of effective service.”

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College graduates take a selfie after walking across the stage.

Co-student of the year Katie Gould recalled thinking she was too old to go back to school, and sitting in her car in the FDLTCC parking lot for an hour before working up the resolve to go inside. After studying chemical dependency counseling and human services at FDLTCC, she is going on to the College of St. Scholastica to study nursing.

“If you’re sitting in the audience today and not taking the leap to go back to school, I want you to remember these words I spoke to you today: You can do anything, and I mean it,” she said. “Do it scared. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Gould encouraged graduates to embrace challenges and to “be the change you want to see.”

“We have the knowledge, the skill and passion to make such a huge impact in this world,” she said.

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College President Anita Hanson takes a picture of the graduating class of 2025 during the college’s graduation ceremony May 15. This is a new tradition in which the photo will appear on the college’s social media.

College President Anita Hanson called commencement “more than just a celebration.”

“It’s a recognition of everything it took to get you here: the long nights, the early mornings, the setbacks and restarts, and the decision over and over again to keep going,” she said. “Whether you’re the first in your family to graduate, or continuing a family legacy, please know this: your achievement matters.”

Retiring Dean of Indigenous & Academic Affairs Roxanne DeLille reminded graduates that they didn’t earn their diplomas alone.

“As you acknowledge the dedication and effort that it took for you to get to this point, take a moment to recognize the culmination of dreams — yours and your family’s. Because it isn’t a solitary achievement, even though it’s you who had to study, pass the test, turn in the homework. It’s a collective victory for all those who have walked with you, have supported you, cooked for you, worked with you, laughed with you, cried with you and cheered you along the way,” she said.

Faculty members cheer with pom-poms after each graduate name is announced.

As they enter a new chapter, DeLille told students that “sometimes the best opportunities are the ones that you don’t plan for.”

“Remember, purpose doesn’t always come in a package of grandeur. Instead, it resides in the ordinary, waiting to become understood in the larger context,” she said. “Let that larger purpose transcend your individual achievements and intertwine with the dreams of your ancestors and echo like songs through time.”