WKCTC fall commencement Dec. 12

PADUCAH, Ky. (KFVS) - More than 900 graduates will be honored at the West Kentucky Community and Technical College on Monday, December 12.

The fall commencement will be at the Carson Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Paducah. It starts at 7 p.m.

The featured speaker for the ceremony will be Sarah Ladd, a 2017 alumna of WKCTC. Jessica “Jae” Freeman is the evening’s student speaker.

According to a release from WKCTC, Ladd graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and creative writing, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Spalding University.

She has covered topics ranging from higher education to COVID-19 and health. She currently works at a nonprofit newsroom in Frankfort covering health and health policy for the state. In 2020, she covered the protests in Louisville over the police killing of Breonna Taylor for The Courier Journal, work that was honored by the Pulitzer Prizes.

For Jae Freeman, commencement day is special for two reasons.

“I am so excited that I get to be the student speaker to my fellow students, and I’m celebrating my 36th birthday at the same time. What a day,” she said in the release.

A married mother of three, Freeman is earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice, and remains the current president of Alpha Epsilon Beta, the college’s criminal justice club.