Walking down any ceremonial aisle comes with importance, growth, and maturity. It signifies the beginning and end of a couple of chapters of life. It’s exciting and inspiring for the beauty of life lies in the unknown. Weddings often come to mind, but just a number of days ago, the graduates walked down the aisle at Illinois State University.

With smiles on their faces and their loved ones in the audience with proud faces, they received their master’s degrees. What an honor. What a magnificent way to celebrate progression while creating unforgettable memories.

Life is all about a series of ups and downs, obstacles and surprises. We never stop learning for that matter. And rising in career or having personal growth is the way we keep molding into someone better, possibly full of knowledge and with an insatiable curiosity for the life around us. “Going to graduate school is a personal choice to bring yourself to the next level in so many ways. It makes you more lucrative in the job market as well,” says business analyst Greg Shindler. And while it has never been about the piece of paper, it's been about the determination and drive. “Graduates need to find a degree that they’re passionate about. It will say a lot about them,” say Michael Brown from the Teachers College at Columbia University.
Earning a master’s degree is a major commitment that is expensive and that requires a large devotion of time. An educational achievement. In a way, anyone who decides to continue to higher education must look into the future and understand their desired career path. Wrong decisions can lead to a waste of time and money. In the end, completing the program gives graduates more earning power. The US Census Bureau states that a master’s degree is worth over $1 million more than a high school diploma over the course of a lifetime. And for some, that is enough of a motivation itself.
And for those who decide to invest in their future through graduate school, there are other positive aspects to look forward to. The degree programs are stimulating and resourceful, the process leads to personal success and pride, and student learn about self-awareness and mental capacity. It’s a journey that in the end, in whatever way each individual chooses to comprehend it, takes away a lot more than what they started with.  
Illinois State University has awarded its latest dedicated students. Victorious, all of them. Wherever the next path may lead, they are prepared. Whether they choose to remain in the area, move to a larger city or even internationally, they will take with them all the tools they have acquired during their tenure at ISU. These will be some of the names that will be written about with their groundbreaking discoveries or award-worthy performances. This is our future. And so be it, these names below have assumed another part of their professional identity. Continue to make us proud. Hats off to you, graduates. Congratulations!

Ahmad, Faiza; Aigner, Connie; Alouan, Marcus; Anderson, Mary; Ariyabuddhiphongs, Kris; Atkins, Kathleen; Austin, Michelle; Baldwin, Roger;    Beard-Corry, Shanda; Bedoya, Liliana; Becker, Kevin; Bernales, Roberto; Bhusal-Sharma, Rahul; Bikram, Birendra; Bloodworth, Elizabeth; Bounds, Nicolle; Bowers, Emerson    ; Boyich, Margaret; Capodice, Amanda; Cetin, Nimet; Coale, Caleb; Cody, Christopher; Cook, Rachel; Cummings, Matthew; Cunningham, Shannon; Darnall, Mark; Dees, Suzanne; DeGrush, Amanda; Deng, Shiliang; Dennis, Jaleigh; Digby, Heidi; Eaton, Andrea; Eley, Meredith; Engelhardt, Kathryn; Epley, Heidi; Ernat, Renae; Eucker, Hannah; Fears, Gregory; Fever, Kali; Fujioka, Yuriko; Gaddy, Kristina; Gervais, Sarah; Glim, Matthew; Goodwin, Daniel; Gourley, Shauna; Grotts, Allie; Guidebeck, Jennifer; Hanson, Katie; Harris, Bethany; Harvey, Candice; Havis, Quintus; Heerdt, Rebecca; Helton, Elizabeth; Herzel, Karen; Hickman, Dawn; Higby, Daniel; Higdon, Jeannie; Hoeft, Shawn; Hoffmann, Shawn; Holaway, Amanda; Holderby, Luke; Holdren, Anne; Houston, Sarah; Huang, Hsiao-Han; Huber, Dustin; Huette, Galen; Hutchcraft, Lauren; Ivy, Maryellen; Jackiewicz, David; Jenkins, Toddrick; Johns, Sara; Jonas, Melanie; Jones, Josey; Kahlon, Amandeep; Kauffman, Thomas; Kelson, Caleb; Kelly, Casey; Kilpatrick, Ashley; King, Christopher; Kobayashi, Maiko; Kocourek, Gregory; Kollross, Shawna; Kowalczyk, Timothy; Kroesch, Allison; Lance, Kathleen; Lander, Nora; Langley, Meropi; Lanning, Adam; Lawler, Jennifer; Lindquist, Britta; Loseke, Dannell; Love, Jonathan; Loveless, Kerry; Maddox, Britta; Maleniak, Richard; Mallory, Shelley; McGee, Amber; McKenry, Neal; Mellott, Carmen; Melville, December; Menestrina, Kacy; Merriman, Laura; Michalak, Nichelle; Mohamad, Fuseina; Mooney, Jennifer; Nair, Sudha; Nance-Carroll, Liam; Nance-Carroll, Niall; Naretta, Michael; Nave, Shelley; Norman, Carrie; Nourie, Cindy; Nourie, Julie; Novak, Michelle; Okunowo, Shamsideen; Olson, Bethany; Paitz, Kendra; Palma, Janine; Panananon, Krittika; Parson, Tracy; Patsos, Lauren; Petersen, Brianne; Pickowitz, Sonny; Primavera, Melissa; Pope, Jacob; Quinton, Nicole; Regilio, Michael; Reich, Sara; Rojas, Kimberly; Rude, Amy; Saavedra, Andres; Sammons, Melissa; Sandhu, Navdeep; Savage, Carly; Schafer, Kevin; Scheffert, Sara; Schmedeke, Hillary; Schmidgall, Daniel; Schulte, Hannah; Scott, Mary; Shaffer, Steven; Skinner, Angela; Slack, Benjamin; Smith, Emil; Smith, Kevin; Spencer, Abby; Stratton, Jason; Stuber, Laura; Swartzentruber, Gretchen; Tatum, Brandy; Tessier-Quint, Patricia; Tex, Stephanie; Tiwari, Ashutosh; Tracy, Keturah; Trapp, Paul; Tsui, Pai-Chi; Uhren, Molly; VanSteenbergen, Tina; Vogel, Trudy; Wallace, Becky; Walters, Sarah; Ward, Jamie; Welsh, Joshua; Wetzel, Andrew; Whalen, Angela; Wiegand, Rebecca; Wilson, Renardo; Wolfe, Jesse; Wu, Liang; Wu, Wan-Ching; Zook, Natalie