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WKCTC's fall commencement to be held at Carson Center December 16

Paducah, KY (12/03/2019) — More than 1,100 West Kentucky Community and Technical College students are eligible to participate in the college's fall commencement at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center at 7 p.m. December 16. Forty-six nursing students will receive their nursing pins during the Monday ceremony.

The keynote speaker for the evening will be Paducah's Dr. Patrick Withrow, director of outreach and physician advisor for Baptist Health Paducah.

After practicing in an interventional practice for 25 years, Dr. Withrow served as Baptist Health Paducah's chief medical officer. He is past Governor-Elect for The Kentucky Chapter of the American College of Cardiology. Among his many contributions, Dr. Withrow helped successfully advocate for a state law to mandate CPR training in Kentucky high schools, and he continues to drive forward needed public policy changes that will protect Kentuckians and prevent needless deaths due to smoking and drug use. He was nominated for the 2018 David B. Stevens, MD Smoke-free Advocate of the Year Award, which recognizes excellence in promoting second-hand smoke education and smoke-free policy.

Dr. Withrow has also been named a Healthy Kentucky Policy Champion by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. The award recognizes individuals and organizations working to improve the health of Kentuckians through policy change. Among his many awards and services include: consultant, Kentucky Board of Licensure, Cardiology, 1997-2000; tutor, receptor, peripheral, vascular interventions, SciMed; Kentucky Chapter American College of Cardiology (past); delegate to the Kentucky Medical Association; Lt. Governor's Task Force on Cardiovascular Health 2009, and 2010 Kentucky Leadership Award recipient.

Student speakers Tevin Phelps and Madison Buzanis will speak to their fellow students and the commencement audience.

Phelps, 27, always knew he wanted to help people, a caring trait he said he learned from his grandmother, who passed away in 2010.

"My granny raised family members in our family and other outside the family too. She put others before herself. She inspired me," he said.

Phelps said his mother also helped shape him into the man he is today. "She taught me determination and compassion. She worked a full-time job and took care of my granny when she got sick and always took care of me."

That determination and passion to help others is paying off now for Phelps who is graduating with an associate in applied science degree in nursing. But it's been a long road to get there.

After graduating from Hickman County High School in 2010, Phelps began taking classes at WKCTC that fall. However, with feelings of self-doubt and the fear of the unknown, he said going to college wasn't something he thought he could do. He began working at a factory in Graves County and enrolled at WKCTC several times over the next few years. Still unsure of himself, he dropped out.

Returning to WKCTC in fall 2016, Phelps said he was determined this time to finish what he started. Still working in the factory at night, he said when he got off work each morning, he'd drive to the college, wash up in the restroom and then head to class.

"I knew I had to go back to college no matter what. I knew there was more to life for me," said the Clinton, Ky. resident.

After much hard work and determination, Phelps was accepted into the nursing program in spring 2018, and he credits WKCTC and many of his instructors for providing constant support and helping him build his confidence and leadership skills.

"I never thought I'd be able to speak in public. I even took basic public speaking online. But now I'm going to speak at commencement. I've learned I can do anything I set my mind to," he said.

Phelps currently has several job offers at various area hospitals to work in a critical care unit following graduation. He said he knows his mom and granny are proud of him.

Madison Buzanis didn't know what she wanted to do in life. However, like Phelps, she knew helping people was going to be part of it.

In her junior year at Graves County High School, Buzanis began taking advantage of dual credit classes, taking classes at WKCTC as she finished high school. She said that decision has made all the difference for her.

"I took my first dual credit class in fall 2016, and I wasn't able to drive yet and my parents, who have always supported me in all that I do, made sure I got to class, she said. "Then I took as many dual credit classes as I could until I graduated and it's the best thing I've ever done."

Buzanis, a Symsonia resident, said she was nervous with her first dual credit class at WKCTC. "I was just 16 and not sure how I would do. But the instructor encouraged me, and all the students made me feel like one of them. I knew I fit in," she said. "And I never looked back."

With the dual credit courses she successfully completed and a high grade point average, Buzanis was able to enter WKCTC's diagnostic medical sonography program in August 2018. Now at 19, she graduates with an associate in applied science degree and also passed her registry exam as a registered vascular technologist.

She said determination and sacrifice led her to succeed.

"There were nights I felt overwhelmed and discouraged, and times when my friends were going out and having fun and I stayed home to study. I had a plan and I was sticking to it," said Buzanis. "All of that has been worth it for me. Dual credit and working hard have paved the way to get me where I am today."

Buzanis begins her career following graduation. She has accepted a position at Jackson Purchase Medical Center in Mayfield as an ultrasound technologist.

"I hope I've set an example for what dual credit can do for students," she said. "I know my brother and sister plan to take dual credit classes, and I believe that it will be just as beneficial to them as it was for me."

For more information on WKCTC's fall commencement, visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu.

Media Attachments

Paducah's Dr. Patrick Withrow is the keynote speaker for WKCTC's fall commencement at the Carson Center December 16.

Tevin Phelps of Clinton, Ky. is one of the student speakers for WKCTC's fall commencement at the Carson Center December 16.

Madison Buzanis of Symsonia is one of the student speakers for WKCTC's fall commencement at the Carson Center December 16.

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