Amarillo College honors grads at 107th commencement
Amarillo College (AC) conducted its 107th commencement ceremony Friday night, with more than 400 graduating class members present to walk across the stage to receive their degrees at the Amarillo Civic Center.
More than 900 students from Amarillo College graduated this month. Interim AC President Denese Skinner presided over the first graduation, following the departure of Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, the former AC president who left the school to take a chancellor position at Austin Community College.
After all graduates entered the arena and were seated, Skinner addressed their achievements. This year’s commencement speaker, Rylee Moore, a mass media graduate, spoke about her distinctive journey to college. In her speech, she paid tribute to a fallen classmate, Christopher Macon, who passed away before his graduation.
"The one constant in my life has always been school. I have always loved to learn, but due to the tumultuous situations I found myself in throughout my life, I was not always able to make it a priority,” Moore said in her speech. “Invisibility was my safety net. However, if there is one thing I have learned throughout my life, it is that you have to be conscious of the decisions that you make. And I am proud to say that the choices I have made have led me to this successful place, whether I was choosing invisibility or the spotlight. Choosing safe was unfulfilling and lonely after a while. I decided I was capable and deserving of more. I wanted college to be the foundation for the life I was determined to live.”
In addition, the Canyon High School Drum Line performed to honor graduates during the Friday evening AC ceremonies at the civic center.
Moore’s mom, Ginger Lynn Akin, spoke about seeing her daughter address the graduating class.
“I went to tears when she told me she was chosen to speak at graduation,” Akin said. “It has been a wonderful journey with Rylee; she is a strong person that can accomplish anything. I am super proud of her, and I know she will go far.”
Eddie Akin, Moore's grandfather, said that seeing Rylee reach this point is such a remarkable moment to behold.
“She has done great for herself,” he said.
Susie Akin, her grandmother, was excited to hear Moore speak to the crowd.
“From day one, she has strived to be her best,” she said. “She completed everything she has put her mind to. She will go far. She is an amazing girl who has done most of this on her own, working two jobs while she got her degree. When she gets her mind set on something, she gets it done; she is tenacious in her approach.”
Moore, who graduated with the highest honors, said that being chosen as commencement speaker over the other candidates was among the biggest honors that she could get.
“Everyone has adversity in their story, and I do not like to dwell on the past because that is not where I am anymore,” Moore said. “I have made it through that, and I am now better for it. It feels amazing to reach this point. This experience has given me so many opportunities for my life.”
She says that she intends to next attend West Texas A&M University to study psychology.
“If you do not have initiative, you are not going to go anywhere in life,” Moore said. “You have to seek out opportunities and make the best of them. I want to thank my family and friends who were there to support me."
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo College graduates over 400 students at Dec. 15 ceremony
