More than 700 graduates

Minot State University holds 95th graduation cermony

By ANDREA JOHNSON, Staff Writer, ajohnson@minotdailynews.com
Jacqueline Prellwitz recalled racing back from a state track meet to attend her high school graduation, still wearing dirt-stained tennis shoes. She wore a pair of nicely tended red high heels for her graduation from Minot State University Friday.

Prellwitz, the graduation speaker, characterized the years in between those graduations as akin to the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz. Along the way she received an education that was second to none and armed herself with courage, heart and a fine education with the help of her instructors.

Prellwitz, from Willow City, completed a Bachelor of Science in Education with a Middle School and Reading endorsement while earning a 3.987 GPA. She was named the Outstanding Student in Teacher Education by the Minot Association of Teacher Educators and by MSU faculty members. She plans to teach next year.

Prellwitz told her fellow graduates that having a college degree does not mean they have all the answers. It means they are better equipped to seek them out along the way.

Prellwitz was joined by more than 700 undergraduates and graduates who received their degrees from Minot State University during the 95th commencement ceremony.

David Marquardt, a 1965 graduate of MSU, gave the keynote address. Marquardt, who retired after 40 years of teaching in the Boise, Idaho, school district, was also a finalist for the first NASA-sponsored “Teacher in Space Program” in 1985 and worked with NASA at the AMES Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., from 1985 to 1988, where he implemented educational space programs for teachers and students in the western states.

Marquardt noted in his address that Minot State holds the distinction of having three alumni who were finalists in the Teacher in Space program. It was the only university in the country that had more than one alumni represented in the program. Marquardt told the graduates that “failure was not an option” in the NASA space program and that Minot State has also practiced that philosophy. He said he found help from former professors at Minot State when he needed it, including when he was about to teach a new computer class for the first time.

Jon Backes, a member of the state’s Board of Higher Education, said the graduates have joined the more than one-third of the population who hold an associate degree or higher and have improved their earning potential. The relief and pride of the parents of the graduates is immense, he said.

 Hence, it is a very good time for students to ask them for money, Backes joked.