CCC Convenes Fourth Winter Commencement

HASTINGS, Neb. – Central Community College held its fourth all-college winter commencement ceremony on Dec. 13. A record 118 graduates took part in the ceremony while a total of 372 candidates were eligible to graduate, matching 2023’s record.

The Honorable Denise Kracl, judge of the county court in Nebraska’s 5th judicial district, delivered the keynote address. She began by asking the graduates a series of questions, such as how many are from Nebraska, how many cared for someone while earning their degree and how many are the first in their family to graduate from college. The questions set up the theme of her address.

“Because of each of you have traveled your own unique path, I chose the theme of a GPS,” said Kracl, who explained that GPS stands for global positioning system. “A GPS lets you know where you are and where you want to go.”

Kracl presented five lessons she had learned from her GPS. The first lesson: There is more than one road to get to where want to be. She spoke of being born and raised in Columbus, graduating from Columbus High School and enrolling at CCC-Columbus, where her mother was one of the original faculty members. After graduating from CCC and Wayne State College with a teaching degree, Kracl said she knew she didn’t want to teach and worked several different jobs for the next few years.

“During this time in my life, I traveled down many different paths, both professionally and personally, but none of them just seemed to fit,” said Kracl.

The many experiences Kracl had led to her second life lesson: Sometimes in life, you just have to make your own path. When Kracl was working as a probation officer, she said she would see lawyers making $150 an hour while she made $15 an hour. She believed she could be a lawyer and she began the process of applying to any law school that would accept her. That school was the University of South Dakota School of Law.

“In 2004, I quit a full-time job with benefits, cashed out my retirement and at the age of 29, moved to South Dakota,” said Kracl. “If you believe in yourself, it doesn’t mater what anyone else tells you, you can achieve anything you put your mind to.”

The third lesson: Sometimes the detour you never saw coming is actually going to take you down the best road of all. Kracl explained that while she attended law school, she split her time between South Dakota and Nebraska. She was able to secure a graduate internship which paid her $500 a month and qualified her for in-state tuition. The detour, she said, came about during her second year of law school when she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter.

“With the help of my family and friends, after (my daughter) was born, my rank improved 15 spots,” said Kracl. “I earned the highest grade in one of my law school classes. With a lot of help, we survived.”

The fourth lesson: Blue means water in the GPS world. Kracl said when she was discussing the GPS theme of her keynote address, they suggested she tell the audience that blue means water when looking at maps on a GPS device. She said after thinking about it, the life lesson she got out of was that while machines are great, you still have to have people to make sure you don’t drive into the lake. In the college setting, Kracl said a college does not become a college until people are put inside it.

“You see, it’s the faculty, the staff and the administrators who encourage you to learn, who create safe spaces for you to exchange ideas, they’re the ones who make college your home away from home,” Kracl said.

The fifth lesson: Always save home on your GPS. Kracl told the graduates that no matter what their major or where they are from, Central Community College will always be their home.

“On behalf of over 18,000 alumni, welcome to the family,” said Kracl. “Congratulations.”