Kettering College Celebrates 2021 Graduates with Two Commencement Ceremonies

Story by Lauren Brooks

Kettering College conferred degrees and certificates upon 66 students at the spring commencement ceremony on April 29, at SouthBrook Christian Church and 146 students summer commencement ceremony on July 16, at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Center in downtown Dayton.

For the spring ceremony, two programs graduated—Radiologic Technology and Occupational Therapy. Both programs held their dedication or pinning ceremony first before participating in the commencement ceremony. Students had a few limitations because of COVID-19 protocols. Only a few family members and friends per student could attend each ceremony, but each ceremony was livestreamed for friends and family to watch from the comfort of their homes.

By the summer ceremony, the majority of COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted in Ohio. This ceremony also marked the first large campus-wide event since the onset of the pandemic.

“Over the last 18 months, while most of humanity was trying to figure out how to keep toilet paper in the house, you [graduates] were persevering and persisting through the most incredibly disruptive period of time in the history of healthcare education,” said Kettering College President Nate Brandstater in his address to the graduates. “Bask in the glow of this moment and may that glow light the path for what lies ahead.”

Between both ceremonies, President Brandstater awarded 24 associate degrees and 123 bachelor’s degrees, including 75 Bachelor of Nursing degrees. Fifty-five students graduated with the Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree and 27 students graduated with their doctorate in Occupational Therapy.