Hundreds of blue-clad graduates filed into Hodges Fieldhouse on the Fort Dodge campus of Iowa Central Community College Friday to the traditional strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Friday’s double-header of commencement ceremonies marked the pinnacle of achievement that the graduates had worked for over the last year or two.

When the ceremonies were done, the graduates walked out of the fieldhouse and into their futures.

For a huge percentage of them, that future is right nearby.

Community college graduates tend to stay in Iowa and fill key jobs in factories, health care facilities and just about every other business and industry.

About 90 percent of community college graduates stay in Iowa.

About 70 percent of Iowa Central Community College graduates not only stay in Iowa, they stay right in Webster County and the surrounding eight counties.

That figure shows why Iowa Central alumni are so valuable to all the rest of us in north central Iowa.

We have yet to see any data from the Regents universities indicating that their graduates stick around Iowa to the extent that community college alumni do.

While some of Friday’s graduates will go on to four-year colleges and universities to earn Bachelor’s degrees, others will go right to work, perhaps as early as next week. With a bit of humor, college President Jesse Ulrich said those students will start their professional careers, “an exciting journey that begins literally on Monday. Don’t be late.”

The Iowa Central Class of 2025 includes people who will be the innovators in area business, manufacturing and agriculture. The class includes dental hygiene graduates who will gently scold the rest of us for not flossing enough It includes the people who will fix our cars and tractors. And it includes criminal justice and EMS program graduates who will be there for the rest of us if our worst nightmares become real.

Congratulations Class of 2025. Once a Triton, always a Triton.

We congratulate you on your achievements, and we look forward to all you will accomplish in the future.