Alumni News | WSC Graduation Held May 5; 464 Degrees Conferred

Wayne State College held commencement May 5 in Rice Auditorium for graduate students and in the Willow Bowl for undergraduate students. A total of 464 degrees -- 352 undergraduates and 112 graduate degrees were conferred at the ceremonies by Wayne State President Curt Frye. Terry J. McClain, a 1970 graduate of Wayne State College, delivered the commencement address at the undergraduate ceremony.

Graduate Invocation
Ross Lafleur, the son of Lance and Jane Lafleur of Madison, Neb., delivered the invocation for graduate students. Lafleur completed his undergraduate degree at Wayne State College in May 2009. He is a second generation Wayne State College graduate. His mother, Jane, graduated from Wayne State College in 1974. Jack Lafleur, his brother, graduated from WSC in 2010 and Michael Lafleur, another brother, is a current Wayne State College junior.

Ross teaches junior high and high school Language Arts at North Bend Central Public Schools in North Bend, Nebraska. In addition to teaching, Lafleur coaches the North Bend Central speech team and directs plays, including the junior high play, competitive one-act play, and high school musical production. He is the drama club sponsor. With the master's degree in curriculum and instruction, Lafleur plans to continue to share his passion for literature, writing, and theater with his students.

Graduate Commencement Address
Trisha Hansen-Peters delivered the graduate ceremony commencement address. Hansen-Peters received her undergraduate degree in business administration from Wayne State College in 2004, with concentrations in public accounting and marketing. In the fall of 2009, she was given the opportunity to return to Wayne State as a graduate assistant in the School of Business and Technology, where she teaches marketing, management, and other business related courses. She is graduating with her masters of business administration degree.

Hansen-Peters, a native of Wayne, is the daughter of Tim and Mary Hansen. She and her husband, Tim, were married in December and reside in Wisner. She is employed as an associate real estate broker with 1st Realty Sales & Management in Wayne, and she looks forward to expanding her business in the Wayne area following graduation. In her free time, she enjoys helping with the grain and livestock operations at her family's farm south of Wayne.

Undergraduate Invocation
Debra Lammers Harm gave the invocation at the undergraduate ceremony. She majored in mass communication with a journalism concentration, with speech communication and online media minors. The daughter of Delores Lammers and the late Robert Lammers, she was born in Pleasant Valley, Nebraska. She resides in Wayne with her two children, Cory and Cassie Harm, and works full time in the Wayne State College athletic department.

She is a member of Lambda Pi Eta Communications Honor Society, the National Federation of Press Women and the Nebraska Press Women.

Undergraduate Commencement Address
Terry McClain, the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Valmont Industries, Inc., in Omaha, delivered the undergraduate commencement address. He is responsible for accounting, budgeting, internal audit, investor relations, tax and treasury activities of Valmont and its subsidiaries on a global basis.

He received his bachelor of science in business from Wayne State College in 1970 and an MBA from the University of South Dakota in 1971.