May 16-17 Commencement speakers to highlight renewed value of affordable education

Monday, May 13, 2019

CALMAR & PEOSTA—Northeast Iowa Community College will hold spring commencement for 324 Calmar and Peosta campus graduates this spring. Ceremonies for both campuses include Fall 2018, Spring 2019 and Summer 2019 graduates.

The Calmar ceremony will be held at Luther College Regents Center in Decorah at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, and the Peosta ceremony will be held at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 17. Both events are free and open to the public.

At the Calmar campus, 141 graduates are participating in the ceremony. Kenneth Reimer, D.V.M., of Elkader, president of the NICC Board of Trustees, will give the welcome address. J. Scott Thomson, president of CUSB Bank in Cresco, will give the keynote address.

Thomson earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., and began a 40-year career in banking. In 1993, he graduated from the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, Wis. The Cresco native is active in his local community and serves on several boards and committees, including: Boy Scouts of America, the Jaycees, Cresco Industrial Development Corp and the Notre Dame Parish finance committee. He co-founded the Crestwood Dollars for Scholars organization that awards scholarships to graduating seniors and the Cresco Cub Scout Flag Program to support summer scout camp. He is currently president of the Howard Community School Foundation that raises funds for K-12 classrooms in the Howard-Winneshiek Community School District.

Christina Timp is receiving a Business Specialist - Associate of Applied Science degree and will deliver the student address. While at NICC, Timp participated in the Service Learning trip to Nashville, Tenn., this spring to volunteer for communities and people in need. She is a recipient of the HiSET Grant, the Willis and Patricia Hansen Scholarship, the John and Mabel Heinen Family Endowment Scholarship and the Darwin and Barbara Schrage Scholarship. After graduation Timp plans to study the Creighton Model FertilityCare System through the FertilityCare Center of Omaha, to become a fertility care practitioner. A native of Quasqueton, she now lives in West Union.

At Peosta, 183 graduates are participating in the ceremony. NICC Trustee Dan White, of Dubuque, will give the welcome address. Lisa Sahm, of Dubuque, senior team lead for customer service at Sedgwick, will deliver the keynote address.

After losing her long-time industrial sewing job in Dubuque, Sahm wanted to gain new, marketable skills. She enrolled in the Administrative Assistant program at Northeast Iowa Community College and began the first step in transforming her career. While at the College, she also earned an Accounting Clerk program diploma in 2007. In 2016, Sedgwick named Sahm to the company’s top 50 employees list out of 21,000 colleagues nationally. In 2018, Northeast Iowa Community College named the graduate an Alumni Shining Star.

Liz Smith is receiving an Associate of Arts degree and will deliver the student address. While at NICC, Smith immersed herself in campus life and service learning. She served as member and president of the student leadership organization, iMPACT, and was accepted into Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She volunteered with her peers for the Waterloo Food Pantry. As iMPACT president, she organized and led the Red Basket Project, a community fundraising initiative that provides feminine hygiene products for women.

NICC is a public, tax-supported, two-year educational institution, serving eight counties in northeast Iowa. Approximately 5,000 students enroll at NICC every fall to study in more than 60 academic programs. For more information about NICC, visit www.nicc.edu.