100 degrees: ASU at Lake Havasu reaches milestone

Although it took five years, ASU at Lake Havasu will soon reach a milestone.

When the graduation class of 2018 walks down the aisle on May 5, the school will have awarded diplomas to more than 100 students. It will be a proud day seeing the 17 students this year put the campus over the century mark of graduates, said Raymond Van der Riet, ASU director.

The milestone, he added, signals growth.

“You have to get to the first 100 before you can get to the first 1,000,” Van der Riet said. “But the first 100 graduates are a very special group, because they took the lead and took the risk of joining a new campus, and as we’ve seen they have done some very impressive things in this community.”

Soon, Van der Riet added, the instructors at ASU will be able to look back on the first graduating classes with nostalgia, follow their stories and embrace the folklore they will establish moving forward in life.

“These students will frame a lot of what we aspire to be in the future,” Van der Riet said.

“The pathway to growth has been blazed by the first 100, and we can’t wait to see what the next 900 will do.”

There from the start is ASU Lecturer Kerrie Anne Loyd, who is encouraged by reaching the milestone.

“I agree you have to go step by step, and growth is not something that will happen overnight,” Loyd said. “Obviously, we are very proud of the students who have graduated thus far and feel lucky with the kind of talent we see in them.”

A quick survey of professors and each will say they look forward to future graduating classes and achieving more significant waypoints along the way.

“It will be exciting to see the kind of growth that we anticipate taking place,” Loyd said.

Currently there are approximately 150 students attending Lake Havasu’s ASU campus.

Written by David Louis, dlouis@havasunews.com. Reprinted with permission.