Looking to the Future at SMSU

Marshall Independent 

By Deb Gau

May 12, 2008 

 In a couple of hours, the Southwest Minnesota State University students gathered before commencement would be finished with their degrees and officially sent out into the “real world.” But that’s not what most were thinking about.

“It’s more just trying to get through the day,” said Mike Wierson, a Health and Human Performance/Physical education major from Maxwell, Iowa.

Wierson was one of a few students gathered around a couch in one of the lobby areas around campus. As the lineup for graduation slowly took shape, students took the time to chat, accept a hug from family or friends, or just take a breather.

Going through graduation itself wasn’t stressful, Wierson and his friends said. But just the same, Abby Reverts was feeling a little nervous.

“I don’t know why, but I woke up with a little knot in my stomach,” the excercise science major from Lake Park, Iowa, said. “It just felt like, urgh.”

Digital and cell-phone cameras were everywhere, a lot of them held by students. Further up the line from Reverts and Wierson, soon-to-be graduates from the SMSU Honors program posed for group pictures with each other. During their time in college, they said, they’ve had the chance to get close.

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