Photo by Deb Gau The Marshall Area Technical & Educational Center class of 2021 celebrated graduation with an outdoor ceremony on Tuesday afternoon. In addition to graduation, students of the year were named in each academic subject. Tangzong Yang received a certificate after being named Student of the Year in business education.

MARSHALL — “It’s been a long journey,” Daniel Anderson said of the challenges he faced in school — especially this past school year.

Anderson spoke during the 2021 commencement ceremony held outdoors Tuesday for Marshall Area Technical & Education Center graduates.

“At the end of the day, I made it. We all made it,” Anderson told his fellow classmates. “We survived the pandemic, after all,” Anderson said.

A total of nine MATEC students graduated this year, including Anderson, Ummulkheir Ahmed, Jacob Fosvick, Justin McCormick, Brenda Rafael Chilel, Logan Rose, Kaelyn Schrupp, Tabitha Senger and Tangzong Yang.

“You should all be proud of the work you completed to get here,” MATEC Assistant Principal Amanda Pederson told graduates.

Tuesday’s spring graduation was a return to a more normal ceremony for MATEC. Last spring, COVID-19 restrictions made it impossible to gather people together for graduation, so graduates received their certificates individually.

With restrictions lifted, 2021 graduates were able to gather with family, school staff and fellow students in an outdoor ceremony.

In addition to spring graduates receiving their certificates, MATEC faculty members also named Students of the Year in each academic subject, and awarded certificates to a total of 10 welding students.

Graduation speakers encouraged graduates to look to their futures.

“As this chapter comes to a close, a new one is opening for you,” Pederson said. MATEC graduates were going on to enter the workforce, to military service, or to continue their education at technical school or college.

Keynote speaker Leanna Ginocchio told graduates to keep dreaming big.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t. You’ve already proved them wrong,” Ginocchio said.

From the sound of things, MATEC graduates had taken the speakers’ advice to heart. Brenda Rafael Chilel shared the class of 2021’s motto, which was “Take pride in how far you’ve come, have faith in how far you’ll go, but don’t forget to enjoy the journey.”