112 graduate from Milligan

MILLIGAN COLLEGE — From the moment both Amber Simerly and Daisy Sanders began taking classes at Milligan College, they immediately felt welcome in the extended family of the school.

“It’s such a personal experience. Even the instructors, the professors, have helped us on a personal level, so we really feel glad that Milligan is a smaller college and has bigger opportunities for us,” Simerly said.

Sanders agreed and added that after trying several other schools, there wasn’t one that was more of a perfect fit for her than Milligan.

“I’ve attended other colleges in the past and coming to Milligan, I immediately met up with staff that instantly greeted me. They knew me by name. They have always been welcoming,” she said. “It’s a family atmosphere and it’s more than just a school. You become part of a community that’s welcoming and loving.”

Both Simerly and Sanders were among the 112 students who graduated from Milligan College Friday night. The two graduates both earned their bachelor of science degrees in child and youth development.

Since their class was fairly small throughout the entirety of the program, Simerly and Sanders said the students in the education program became extremely close, which made dealing with the stress of class work much easier.

“It makes a better learning experience because we do rely on each other and just hearing each other’s stories and getting that repertoire with each other; the education experience I think is strengthened,” Sanders said.

Although they both graduated from Milligan Friday, both Simerly and Sanders plan to do their master’s work in the school’s education program.

Milligan College is also a good fit for non-traditional students like Everett Haynie, who received his master’s degree in business administration Friday.

As someone who has a pretty demanding work schedule, Haynie said going through an intensive graduate-level business program wasn’t always easy. The many sleepless nights were worth it in the end as Haynie prepared to walk across the stage before the commencement ceremony.

“Some of your other non-traditional or traditional-type programs want three classes at a time, and it’s just more than a working person can do, so they really had a nice program set up for that to only do one class at a time,” he said.

Getting an MBA was something Haynie had wanted to do for quite some time, and he was glad to have chosen Milligan in order to achieve that goal.

“It expanded my knowledge more in the business realm; things that I can use on the job. I was really able to use a lot of the experiences from work in my classes to be able to communicate to that, so it was a really good program there,” he said.