SAINTS PERSPECTIVE, SCCC President Brad Bennett
The excitement of graduation is everywhere in the Seward County Community College service area this spring. I felt it last week when I attended the Ulysses Chamber of Commerce Coffee. This was the fourth time I attended the event, and it was pretty incredible.
Fifteen students from Ulysses High School were honored for completing associate degrees with SCCC while also completing their high school studies. This is an incredible accomplishment, and families and friends showed up to support their students: the coffee had 150 in attendance.
It was really great to see people from the community gathered to celebrate this achievement. The students are all planning to continue their education at institutions across the nation — and they have a great head start thanks to our Saints Ahead scholarship, their local community support system, and, of course, their own hard work and dedication.
For me, getting to meet so many parents and grandparents was a highlight. There’s nothing quite like seeing your children accomplish great things, and these families were so proud of their students and thankful for the opportunity SCCC and Ulysses High School have provided.
Now, 15 young people are already Saints alumni, just as they set out in the first stages of adult life. Their areas of interest range from pre-med to dental hygiene, sports media and communications, education, business, and law. They have big dreams, and they have already demonstrated they are willing to work hard to achieve them. Their families are rightfully proud. Like them, I couldn’t stop smiling.
The Ulysses students are not the only ones. SCCC will honor a total of 47 high school students who have earned certificates and degrees, and who will participate in our commencement ceremony this Friday. That number grew from 37 last year, and we expect to see the numbers continue to increase over the third year of our Saints Ahead Scholarship program.
It’s such a wonderful opportunity for high school students in our service area: just $50 per class (not per credit hour), or at no tuition cost for students who live in Seward County. Our board of trustees opted to make this scholarship available without capping the number of courses a student might take, whether in person at their high school, on our campus, or online. For many students, Saints Ahead has meant that two years of college are completed for around $1,000, not to mention the savings for families when they don’t have to pay for dorm housing, transportation, or cafeteria meals!
Our students on campus are wrapping up the year as well. Graduation ceremonies will confer degrees and certificates on nearly 400 individuals this week. Then, on Monday, everyone will turn their attention to final exams and final grades. It’s always a rush of events and deadlines at this time of year, but it is also my favorite time of year.
We get to see the results of all our hard work — not just the students’ efforts, but our own, whether that work took place in the classroom, the office, or at the Kansas State Capitol. From the facilities staff keeping our grounds green and appealing to the IT team getting the audiovisual systems set up in the gym for various ceremonies, everyone on campus has a hand in the important annual ritual of commencement.
I hope to see you at one or more of our ceremonies, and I join you in applauding the graduates of 2025. Go Saints!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Brad Bennett is the president of Seward County Community College and a regular visitor at the 11 communities in the region where the college offers Outreach classes. You can reach him at
