News Photo by Jordan Spence Alpena Community College graduates line up to receive their degrees, Thursday at ACC.

ALPENA — During Alpena Community College graduation Distinguished Alumni, Dr. James E. Stoddard, said a critical part of life is learning how to learn.

“If you can do that, you can be successful,” he said.

Stoddard enrolled and earned a degree from ACC in 1960 before he continued his education at the University of Michigan.

“Overall all these years I never once thought I would’ve been better off going to another school other than ACC,” he said.

He said to the 369 graduates, the process of learning is up to them to utilize as they continue on in their lives.

ACC Board of Trustees President, John Briggs, also addressed the graduates. He said this is one of the most exciting times of year for everyone at the school.

“The only word that comes to mind is ‘gratitude.’ A gratefulness and appreciation for the graduates,” he said.

For the first time the college had two people graduate with Bachelor of Science degrees, Jason Bradley and Mary Myers. The recipients of the Anna and Jesse Besser Awards this year were Courtney Krentz and Kolin Ghidoni. This award is given to students with high academic and leadership skills.

Marketing instructor Matt Bedard gave the commencement address. He talked about how important it is for students to refuse to give up.

“You understand, you refuse to give up, because even though the motivation was fading it was transforming into a resolve. That determined commitment to complete this goal, no exceptions, no excuses,” he said.

Bedard shared a personal story of his time served in the United States Air Force in 1995. A week before Christmas Bedard was called away to Bosnia for deployment.

“We worked hard. These were 14, 15 hour days, seven days a week. You could find the size and scope of our task was increasing,” he said.

Because of the conditions of the land and the work he noticed motivation started to slip. To prevent burnout they were given one day off, but Bedard and others refused to take it. They continued to work.

He noted students also have to fight through rationalizations to take a day off.

“But instead you dug a little deeper. You found that resolve to go to work. You and your resolve is nothing short of an inspiration,” he said. He added that people are “blessed” to be a part of the students’ small part of their journey.

“Tonight your task is complete. You’ve earned a day of rest,” Bedard said.

Jordan Spence can be reached via email at jspence@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.