Students who lost their lives honored at Nicholls State University graduation

Families of two Nicholls State University graduates received diplomas Saturday on behalf of students who died in recent months.

Kennedi Foret, a 21-year-old Houma native, died in a car crash in December.

Hugh Plaisance, 24, a native of Golden Meadow, died by suicide in April.

“This year has been extremely difficult for us as a university and a year of unfathomable personal losses for families in the bayou region,” Nicholls President Jay Clune said. “To have this opportunity to celebrate both Kennedi and Hugh’s hard work to earn these degrees is something I am proud we can offer to their families.”

Nearly 800 graduates received diplomas during four separate ceremonies in Stopher Gym on the university's Thibodaux campus.

Many were touched personally by the two tragedies, along with those of four other Nicholls students who lost their lives in car crashes during the past few months.

Both Foret and Plaisance had fulfilled the requirements for associate's degrees in general studies before their untimely deaths.

Kennedi's mother, Amber Pitre, 40, said she appreciates the ceremony but added that her emotions are mixed.

"When I got the call that she had earned the associate's, I was so excited that she had earned the degree but also so sad because she should have been here," Pitre said in an interview.

Kennedi was determined to get a doctorate in marine biology and dreamed of saving the ocean, her mother said. She wanted to rescue coral from rising temperatures that are killing sea life and was studying ways to eradicate invasive apple snails that plague Louisiana's swamps and marshes.

So driven was Kennedi that her mother still struggles with how gracefully she handled Hurricane Ida canceling her birthday trip to Disney World to instead take exams delayed by the storm.

" 'My education is what's important to me now, so I have to take care of this,' " Pitre remembers her daughter saying. " 'I have the rest of my life to do what I want.' "

Pitre began to choke up as she recalled the conversation.

"And then she died a month later," Pitre said.

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Mike Plaisance, Hugh's father, recieved a diploma on his son's behalf. Hugh was an English major and an editor for the Nicholls Worth, the student-run campus news website.

The diploma was an honor and it recognized all of his son's hard work, Mike Plaisance said. Hugh was an NBA and a Boston Red Sox fan, and Mike remembers his son sending him a tweet on the day of his passing. Mike said he had thought it was a good day, "and that's how fast it happens."

"School was his outlet, he wanted his degree in English so bad, and he was always a great writer, but at the end of the day he couldn't battle his storm, so to say," Mike said.

Hugh used school and writing to combat stress, and the efforts he put into both reflected his talent, his father said.

"The peace is that we know his writing and his intellect, he's at peace," Mike said. "He was so intelligent, empathetic and loving that it was hard for him to deal with everything in this world."

Caroline Pontiff, 23, graduated last year and was a reporter at the Nicholls Worth alongside Hugh. She said he was a kind editor who was complimentary and supportive of her work. The last time she saw him was right after a Mardi Gras parade.

"He waved and came through a big ol' crowd just to say it was nice to see you," Pontiff said.

During the noon ceremony, students sat in white folding seats in the center of Stopher Gym. Family and friends were seated in the bleachers, and teachers and administrators sat on the stage backed by flags naming their departments.

Processing grief is never easy, and Pitre said she still struggles with the "was and is of things," but Nicholls and the parents of the other deceased students have been supportive.

"There's this thing that happens when you lose your children in a similar fashion," she said. "Everybody kind of rallies together and supports each other."

Pitre said an endowed scholarship is being created in Kennedi's honor, and as of Wednesday, $11,900 had been raised. She said the scholarship will be offered to a Lafourche Parish female undergraduate pursuing marine biology.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Nicholls State graduation honors students who lost their lives