For the City Times

Mid-State Technical College recently highlighted select candidates from its graduating class in its “Graduate Spotlights” series.

The series highlights the success of graduating students and the challenges they have overcome on their path to a degree and career.

Students were selected for the project after being recommended by an instructor based on outstanding performance and dedication in completing their degree programs, and include: Carla Byrne of Neillsville (Farm Operation), Annie Cobb of Wisconsin Rapids (Phlebotomy Technician), Kitt Covi of Stevens Point (Office Support Specialist), Daniel Delaney of Wisconsin Rapids (Civil Engineering Technology-Highway Technician), Aja Heuss of Wisconsin Rapids (Urban Forestry Technician) and September Vilmin of Marshfield (Nursing).

Among the graduates featured, Daniel Delaney entered Mid-State’s Civil Engineering Technology-Highway Technician program after his 11-year career as a truck driver unexpectedly ended, a problem made more challenging by the decision he and his wife had made to take in his sister’s four special needs children.

There would be more setbacks for Delaney, and a great deal of persistence, yet after a little more than two years in the program, he graduated with honors on Thursday, May 18.

Prior to graduation Delaney started working for Lampert-Lee & Associates in Wisconsin Rapids, making him the ninth spring 2017 graduate in his program to be hired before graduation—out of a class of nine.

“I wish I would have done this when I graduated high school, but it is never too late in life to start a new career,” he said.

Find the rest of Delaney’s story along with the five others featured in Mid-State’s spring 2017 Graduate Spotlights series visit www.mstc.edu/gradspotlight.