Old and new at YSU

Old and new at YSU

This was quite an extraordinary weekend in the city, one marked by dramatic testaments to the old and the new at Youngstown State University.

Saturday was the 2008 spring commencement, and while it wouldn’t technically be the centennial commencement, since the university marks its origins, not its first graduating class, to 1908, it had the feel of a milemark.

The all-alumni reunion and YSU’s Summer Festival of the Arts July 12 and 13 will be more of a birthday party for the university, but the significance of this weekend’s events can’t be overlooked.

Appropriately, a statue was unveiled of the man who oversaw the growth of Youngstown College — as its first president in 1931, through the post-war boom years, right up to the eve of its transition into a state university. Dr. Howard Jones lived in a small house on campus just east of where his statue stands. He was as common a sight on campus to generations of students as his statue will be to generations of students to come.

Glimpse of the future

And speaking of generations to come, let’s talk about the Youngstown Early College. The YEC, a collaboration between YSU and the Youngstown City School District, graduated its first class.

Among the 41 students who received high school diplomas while taking high school classes at Fedor Hall and college classes elsewhere on campus were four students who were able to complete all their high school work and enough college classes to receive two diplomas.

TaQuaesa Toney, Misti and Kristi Mraz and Cherise Benton will receive their high school diplomas today. They received associate in arts degrees at YSU Saturday.

These exceptional high school students are pioneers. In his State of the State address, Gov. Ted Strickland unveiled his “Seniors to Sophomores” program that will encourage Ohio high school students to take college-level work so that they will be able to transition directly from high school into their sophomore year of college.

YEC already allows students with the aptitude and discipline to go from the eighth grade to associate degree graduate in four demanding and fulfilling years.