The story of DMACC’s Spring 2026 graduation season — during which more than 3,500 students received credentials -- can be summarized in the words of one of its commencement speakers.
“We’ve got to keep going, not because it’s easy, but because it matters.”
Anika Garcia stood at the podium and looked out at the crowd where more than 100 fellow graduates and twice as many of their loved ones — plus dozens of DMACC faculty and staff – were seated in the Boone Campus Gym for the morning commencement ceremony, Friday, May 8.
Garcia began her speech by thanking God for the moment. Her faith, she said, gives every moment meaning and every situation purpose. Then, she gave a quick “shoutout” to the family, faculty, and other supporters who were sharing the moment.
“Because the graduates sitting here today would not be here without you,” Garcia said.
“As a first-generation student raised by a single mom, the only thing I really understood growing up was survival,” she continued. “Continuing my education was never part of my plan.”
But somewhere along the way, that changed. DMACC Boone became a place where Garcia would grow in ways she could never have expected. There, she developed a love of learning, discovered an outlet for her empathy, and realized that she was not defined by her circumstances.
Garcia stepped into honors courses, tried research opportunities, and leaned into the unknown, following the passions placed on her heart.
And she encouraged her classmates to do the same: “Dive deep into what brings you joy and curiosity, because that can become the light that guides you,” Garcia said.
Garcia’s message at Boone’s commencement ceremony symbolizes the emotional thread of the graduation season across the DMACC district: Growth rarely starts with certainty — it starts with the decision to try. And to keep trying.
Just two days earlier, on May 6, a sea of 1,200 blue caps filled the Casey’s Center in Des Moines for the Metro Commencement Ceremony, marking the largest celebration of the week.
Interim President Dr. Liang Chee Wee shared a simple, powerful story about a student who nearly quit multiple times, only to be encouraged by his mother to give it “one more day.” Those days added up – to confidence, to resilience, and ultimately, to graduation.
Student speaker Katie Forster, a nursing graduate, said her path to the Metro Commencement Ceremony podium wasn’t perfectly linear, and like many of her peers, there were moments of uncertainty.
“But we kept going, and that’s what brought us here today,” Forster said, encouraging the class of 2026 to lead their lives with kindness, compassion, and integrity.
That same DMACC spirit was in the air May 7 outside the Perry VanKirk Career Academy, where nursing students marked their transition into the profession during the annual pinning ceremony. Following tradition, family members and loved ones stepped forward to pin students’ scrubs, celebrating the long nights, clinical hours, and perseverance that brought them to the moment.
Later in the afternoon, Perry Site Director Eddie Diaz stood the behind the podium again, this time to recognize the dedicated faculty staff who make everything possible:
Mike Thomason, who came out of retirement as a longtime EMS director to help launch the EMT Career Academy at Carroll as an adjunct instructor.
"Without (Mike's) support and local connections our EMT program would have never taken shape at Perry," Diaz said, thanking Thomason and teasing him about retiring yet again.
And Maggie Yombor, a Pyschology Professor who was nominated for DMACC's new employee recognition initiative "MACCnificent" awards. Yombor was nominated, Diaz said, "because of her willingness to go above and beyond for students and lend a helping hand to any member of the DMACC VanKirk center."
Yombor was one of the instructors who encouraged Dorothy Stoltz, a 74-year-old part-time adminstrator at Perry Vankirk, to "keep going" while she was pursuing her associate's degree. Stoltz was recognized on the celebratory day in Perry, too.
"Dorothy has been an inspiration -- as a part-time student, part-time administrative assistant, she has been a full-time rock-star in supporting the work for students and living what it means to be a DMACC Bear," Diaz said. "We are incredibly proud and happy for her."
In Carroll, twins Quinten and Kieran Polking crossed the graduation stage together, earning associate's degrees side by side — two of the 16 students who graduated from the first cohort of the Early Learning Academy, a partnership between DMACC and Carroll School District.
Another set of twins, Tanner and Trevor Lamaak, earned welding diplomas.
A few hundred people — family, friends, loved ones, and community members — gathered in the gymnasium at Carroll High School to celebrate Friday evening, May 8.
The student whose cheer squad traveled the furthest to attend? Probably Ayu's.
International student Andhika Periwitasari, who goes by Ayu, was surrounded by her family from Indonesia, who made the trip to witness and celebrate a milestone on her "Relentless Road Back to Medicine."
From Des Moines to Perry, Boone to Carroll, Spring 2026 graduation was defined by the journeys of DMACC's diverse students — who kept going when things felt uncertain, who discovered confidence where there was once doubt, and who found purpose in the process.
And as Anika Garcia reminded her fellow graduates during her closing remarks in Boone, those journeys do not end at commencement. Standing before her classmates, Garcia acknowledged the uncertainty many graduates feel stepping into the future — and the choice to move forward anyway.
“It’s easy to look around and feel like the world is on fire — like everything is uncertain, overwhelming, or even broken,” Garcia said. “But somehow, in the middle of all that, we’ve been given the opportunity to keep learning, keep building and to keep moving forward.”