RRCC graduates 98 Tuesday, By LAUREL BEAGER, Editor

The hopes and dreams of today are the achievements of tomorrow.
That was the message brought by several speakers to 98 graduates Tuesday at Rainy River Community College’s 39th commencement exercises.
RRCC Provost Wayne Merrell recognized faculty for their service to the students and community and noted that three faculty members will depart this year; Larry Oveson will retire; and Don Graves recently received state recognition.
Joe Sertich, president of the Northeast Higher Education District, challenged the graduates to use their education to make the world a better place.
“The time you’ve invested at RRCC will help you to create solutions to the challenges you face,” Sertich told the group.
Marcus Singletary, student speaker, urged his fellow graduates to have the courage to stand alone and stand out.
“Never let anyone tell you can’t accomplish your dreams,” he said Tuesday. He finished his speech with a waive and stated, “I’m proud to be a Rainy River Community College Voyageur.”
Singletary from Hinesville, Ga, thanked his parents for believing in him, especially his father. In introducing Singletary, his academic advisor Carol Grim noted that his father was a retired military intelligence officer, serves as a pastor and high school Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor, and helped Singletary to shape his life.
Singletary will continue his education on a football and basketball scholarship at Tabor University in Hillsbourgh, Kansas. He will pursue a bachelor’s degree in communications with an ultimate goal of becoming an actor. While attending RRCC, Singletary was a member of the football and basketball teams. He also held a lead role as the sailor in the Rainy River Community College theater production of “A Taste of Honey.”
Sue Anderson, RRCC foundation president, introduced community speaker Jeff Hardwig. But before handing over the microphone, she told the graduates: “If you believe in yourself, you can do unbelievable things.”
The song “My Sharona” resonated from the speakers as Hardwig began his speech, a song which he noted was the No. 1 song on the charts 28 years ago when he served as the student speaker for the RRCC class of 1979. At that time he spoke of change — the inevitability of it, the necessity of it and planning for it.
But, he noted, when asked to speak at commencement that year, Hardwig said his initial response was to say no because he was afraid of public speaking and to avoid the discomfort of it.
“I realized that if I ran from this unreasonable fear this time, I would probably run the next time and the next and I made a decision to not let fear rule my life,” he told the group.
Hardwig encouraged students to have courage, develop connections and relationships to people and make commitments.
Meanwhile, 11 students graduated from both their respective high schools and RRCC through the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program. Three students received more than one degree and one team of brothers graduated. The average age of this year’s graduates is 25 years.  Of the 21 minority students receiving degrees, seventeen are black, one is Native American, one is Asian and two are Hispanic. Five students graduated after fall semester.
The following students graduated from RRCC Tuesday: **Roger Aaseng, James Alexis, *Samantha Allie, Tracy Anderson, * Sarah Anderson, Brian Arch, Brock Averill, Dana Bacon, Clinton Beck, **Christine Beyak, Brittany Bothman, *Kyle Bounds, Jenna Boyum, Terez Chambers, *Michelle Cheney, Courtney Chrislock, Kayla Christianson, **Jean Clement, Steve Corneille, Jacqueline Cumber, Jeremy Deedrick, Stephanie Dremmel, **Daniel Ducharme, **Max Ducharme, *Colleen Dunbar, **Mary Jo Eisenach, Jacob Elkins, Meghann Faulkner, Fredlyn Fertil, Fednel Fleurenat, Joseph Freden, Lovensky Frederick, Kari Gates, Joel Grover, Josephine Guerard, Tara Gushulak, Jose Gutierrez, Adam Hagen, April Hall, **Jaclyn Halla, Melissa Hams, Theresa Hanson, Rashad Harrell, Kristen Harsha, Lorina Hauner, Thomas Hawkins, Lisa Hiebert, Tammy Holler, *Courtney Hoppe, Thomas Irving, Kimberly Jantzen, *Cheryl Kallaste, Andrew Katrin, Bradley Kostiuk, Gina LaBlanc, Jenna Leerssen, **Chris Leimenstoll, Valerie Lennox, **Keturah Lilja, **Amanda Little, Maurice Lloyd, *Rashid Lucas, Krystal Lund, Amis Mackenzie, Travis Mann, Carmen Matsen, Thomas Moses, **Jennifer Myles, *Zira Nixon, *Nicole Oliver, *Colleen Olson, Kari Othoudt, Spencer Peterson, Steven Polutnik, William Prickett, Rasmussen Stephanie, **Kim Rieu, **Theresa Roadfeldt, *Michael Rousell, **Katie Sather, Barbara Saxton, Wedetee Shain, Marcus Singletary, Danielle Stamarski, Joseph Stokes, Kelly Suerth, Sandra Sundin, Heather Swanson, **Jeanine Trappe, Lane Trask, Pamela VanDamme, Bonnie Wolden, Jenna Wood, **Miriam Zupke.
Denotes: * — with honors; ** — with highest honors