Once again, the graduation exercises held inside the Hughesville Junior-Senior High School auditorium offered moments where family could cheer, applaud and experience unplanned times to remember like when Adrianna Bame, a pre-nursing/health sciences student from Warrior Run School District who was named LycoCTC Student of the Year, told her mom that she loved her and her mom returned that sentiment with – “I love you too, babe.”

The audience inside the auditorium got to hear life and career tips from keynote speaker, Nancy A. Walker, Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry, appointed to the position by Gov. Josh Shapiro, who said she had visited just a little more than a year before.

The Lyco CTC has a student body consisting of students from Benton, Loyalsock Township, Muncy, East Lycoming, Montoursville Area and Warrior Run school districts.

Instructional learning is available in a number of specialities including: automotive technology, computer systems technology, construction technology, criminal justice, culinary arts, early childhood education, pre-nursing and health sciences.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy senior Sarah Wright shows off her certification in Pre-Nursing and Health Sciences during Lycoming Career and Technology Center's annual Senior Ceremony at Hughesville High School Thursday.

The facility recently broke ground on a major expansion and renovation project to add both welding technology and diesel technology to their curriculum, expanding capacity to allow the school to enroll an additional 120 to 150 students, helping eliminate waitlists for technical education. The initiative was backed by state grants and district bonds.

The innovative learning there provides students with career counseling, workforce development and Pennsylvania College of Technology dual enrollment.

Guests were greeted by Nathan Minium, Lyco CTC executive director; while Dr. Craig Skaluba, superintendent of record, introduced the keynote speaker.

LizAnn Barlett, career counselor, presented the certificates and Minium presented the Director’s Award to seniors who have not only excelled in their technical skills but have also grown as individuals and leaders while making a lasting impact in the LycoCTC community: Those seniors are: Gracie Budman, East Lycoming, criminal justice; Tyson Harrington, East Lycoming, culinary arts; Katie Shipton, Muncy, construction trades, and Gianna Steele, Loyalsock, early childhood education.

Tips for success

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Warrior Run senior and Pre-Nursing and Health Sciences graduate Adrianna Bame was named as the Student of the Year during Lycoming Career and Technology Center's annual Senior Ceremony at Hughesville High School Thursday.

“I’ve been in your shoes many times where I was kind of anxious about what came next and so I thought I’d give you these thoughts that have sort of gotten made through these years, they’re descriptive and prescriptive and I mean by that that they worked for me and I hope that some of these ideas you can take with you,” Walker remarked.

She described her visit a little more than a year ago to the center, where she had the chance to meet and speak with so many of the staff, administration, community and “so many of you graduates,” she said.

“And you were so excited talking about your programs and your career pathways and it’s such a joy to be here tonight to celebrate this major accomplishment,” Walker said, adding it was a pleasure to see them complete this “chapter” in their lives.

“You’re getting ready to move on to your next chapter and many of you are going right into work and you are going into more training but this is the end of one chapter,” she said.

“I can imagine it’s exciting to have accomplished this and to be where you are tonight but also may be a little where you feel a little anxious or a little concerned about what comes next,” she said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Students move their tassels from the right to the left side of their mortar boards during Lycoming Career and Technology Center's annual Senior Ceremony at Hughesville High School Thursday.

Walker told the students they must not be afraid to think differently, especially when encountering people who say “this is the way we’ve always done it.”

Agreeing that, sometimes it’s the best way, sometimes it’s just because everybody’s used to doing something the same way, but sometimes it’s because no one has suggested something different.

“So, I suggest to you that you need to bring your own curiosity, your own perspectives … be bold enough to speak to people to speak truth … to come up with new ideas, be creative and trust your own instincts – you won’t always have the best idea right and sometimes your ideas but do not be afraid of your point of view.”

Secondly, she encouraged them to be courageous, reflecting on her own times in life when such bravery was necessary, expressing a commonality with many in this region having grown up in a small town in northern Ohio and then heading to law school in Pittsburgh and landing a job in Philadelphia as a labor lawyer.

“I had two parents that were school teachers but I decided I wanted to become a lawyer and I can tell you I did not grow up in a home where we for better or worse hung out with lawyers,” she said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville High School Senior Chase Minier is congratulated by his aunt Caroline Burgess of Picture Rocks following Lycoming Career and Technology Center's Senior Ceremony Thursday night at Hughesville High School. Minier completed three years in the Construction Technology program.

Admittedly, at times, scared she said she decided “that I would learn what I needed to learn and work hard and have the courage to just be in the room sometimes,” which she noted “is the most important first step.

When the governor asked her to take the position it was “really intimidating,” she admitted.

“I can tell you it was an overwhelming prospect,” she said heading the Department of Labor and Industry, overseeing 5,500 employees with hundreds of offices and the department budget.

She also talked to the students about the value of building collaborative relationships.

“The best workplaces, the strongest communities are built by people who look out for each other,” she said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Construction Technology seniors admire instructor Phil Aiken's new wooden tie which he made from 1/4 inch cherry before Lycoming Career and Technology Center Senior Ceremony Thursday night at Hughesville High School.

Walker added how the students – having gained a great foundation in their studies – need to continue to learn, stay curious, ask questions and be open to growth.

“The people who go the farthest in their careers, I believe, aren’t the people who know everything but they’re the people who never stop learning.”

Concluding, she added a tip for the graduates to take one step at a time and have big dreams, but also to realize: “You don’t have to have everything figured out as you sit here tonight.

“Trust your own heart to do what resonates with you at each step of your journey,” she remarked.

“You’ll make wrong choices,” she said, smiling, and reminding the graduates to be open to challenges, stay true to things that really matter.

“If you are going to spend many years of your life working, do the thing that makes you want to get up every day and do it. Know that what you’re doing has a purpose.

“You’ve learned such important skills here about building, teaching, protecting, creating – you have the skills that matter to families and communities,” she said. “You will make a difference,” she said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent A Pre-Nursing and Health Sciences senior sports her decorated mortar board before Lycoming Career and Technology Center's Senior Ceremony Thursday night at Hughesville High School.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Loyalsock High School senior Taje King receives a little help with his mortar board from a fellow Criminal Justice student before Lycoming Career and Technology Center's Senior Ceremony Thursday night at Hughesville High School.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming Career and Technology Center seniors line-up in Hughesville High School's gym before their Senior Ceremony Thursday night at Hughesville High School.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming Career and Technology Center Criminal Justice seniors Gracie Budman of East Lycoming, left, and Anna Borcherding of Loyalsock ham it up for the camera as they line up for Senior Ceremony in Hughesville High School's gym Thursday night.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming Career and Technology Center seniors walk down the hall of Hughesville High School for Senior Ceremony at the school's auditorium Thursday night.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy senior Angelica Zuniga receives her certification from her instructor Jeremy Brown during Lycoming Career and Technology Center's annual Senior Ceremony at Hughsville High School Thursday night.