Utah State University’s Tooele Regional Campus will kick off the county’s 2015 graduation season.
Commencement ceremonies for USU-Tooele will be held this Saturday, April 18, in the auditorium of Stansbury High School at 2 p.m.
A total of 158 students have earned diplomas from USU-Tooele this year.
The USU-Tooele graduating class of 2015 includes 84 students who earned an associates degree, 72 students who earned a bachelor’s degree, and two students who earned a master’s degree, according to Dominic Bria, marketing manager for USU regional campuses.
“Many of the graduates of USU-Tooele are of nontraditional student age,” she said. “That is, they’re people who waited until later in life to finish their college degrees.”
One of those nontraditional graduates is Autumn Riding.
Riding always wanted to finish her bachelor’s degree, but finding time while raising six children was difficult, she said.
Six years ago, after her children were old enough to not need constant attention and with the support of her husband, Riding started at USU-Tooele. She will graduate Saturday with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
Riding plans on looking for a teaching position this fall and returning to USU-Tooele for a master’s degree.
Saturday’s graduating class for USU-Tooele will also include Riding’s daughter, Kylei Bertrand. She will receive an associate’s degree this year and will continue her education at USU-Tooele and earn a bachelor’s degree next year, according to Bria.
Another non-traditional 2015 graduate of USU-Tooele is Emily Atkin.
Atkin started her education at USU-Tooele after a divorce. She took a year and a half off from her education to care for her mother.
Atkin will receive a bachelor’s degree on Saturday, but will continue her studies at USU-Tooele to earn a master’s degree in social work. Atkin plans to put her education to work helping children in need, Bria said.
Tooele County School District’s high school graduation ceremonies start on Monday, May 18 with Blue Peak High School holding a commencement ceremony in the gym at 6:30 p.m.
Wendover High School’s class of 2015 will graduate in ceremonies held in the Peppermill Concert Hall on Tuesday, May 19 at 7 p.m.
Grantsville and Dugway High schools will both conduct graduation exercises on Wednesday, May 20. Grantsville High will start its ceremony at 6 p.m. in either the gym or on the football field.
Dugway High School’s 2015 graduation will be the last graduation ceremony to be held in the gym. By the time the 2016 class graduates, Dugway students will have moved into a new building. The DHS graduation ceremony will start at 7 p.m.
The University of Utah’s Jon M. Huntsman Center will be the site of Stansbury and Tooele High schools’ graduation ceremonies on Thursday, May 21.
Stansbury High’s graduation will start at 4 p.m. and Tooele High’s will start at 7 p.m.
The final graduation ceremony of the spring will be for Tooele County High School, the name of Tooele County School District’s adult education program.
The adult education program will award high school graduation diplomas to graduating students in a ceremony on Friday, May 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Blue Peak High school gym.