PHOTO: BEN FLOWERS, PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: KATE BEEBE
Commencement The Boomerang Effect: Unemployed Speakers Graduates Look Homeward by MEGAN HUCKABY Multimedia Editor
Spring commencement is set for May 12. The schedule and speakers for the ceremonies were released this week. Below is a list of speakers for each ceremony, according to UA media relations. All University Commencement (8:45 a.m., Bud Walton Arena)--Alice Walton. Walton is the Chairman of the Board for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. She was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people for 2012. Fulbright College (1 p.m., Barnhill Arena)--Julia Lyon. She’s a senior biology major, mathematics and Spanish minor, and is part of the Fulbright College Honors Program and Honors College. She will start medical school at UAMS in August. Walton College (12:30 p.m., Barnhill Arena)--Lee Bodenhamer (B.S.B.A. 1957, M.B.A. 1964), president of Centennial Consulting
Company in Little Rock. In 1998, Bodenhamer, through the Bodenhamer Foundation, established a fellowship program at the University of Arkansas for freshmen entering the Honors College. Bodenhamer Fellowships provide each student $50,000 for four years of study or $62,500 if the student is enrolled in a five-year degree program. College of Education and Health Professions (4 p.m., Bud Walton Arena)-Rod Paige. Paige served as U.S. Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush, spearheading the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, with its goal of reinvigorating America’s education system. He was the first school superintendent to hold the position. He had been superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, the nation’s
by BRITTANY NIMS Asst. News Editor
She did everything she was supposed to. She graduated with a 4.3 GPA from Claremore High School in 2008. She was a valedictorian. She came to the UA from Oklahoma as a first-gener-
ation college student. She studied biochemistry and minored in biology to ready herself for medical school at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Medicine. She even joined a philanthropic organization—Tau Beta Sigma, national honorary band service sorority— and held several executive po-
sitions, including parliamentarian, treasurer and president. Plan A for Kyleigh Strickland? Medical school immediately following graduation from the UA. She graduates in less than two weeks. She did not get into OU medical school. Plan B? Return home.
Since the start of the economic recession in 2007, increasing numbers of college graduates are moving back home—a phenomenon known as the boomerang effect. In recent years, nearly onefourth of young adults ages 18
see BOOMERANG on page 10A
see SPEAKERS on page 9A
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012 VOL. 106, NO. 112 16 PAGES UATRAV.COM
EMILY RHODES OPINION EDITOR
Graduating senior Kyleigh Strickland will be moving to Claremore, Okla. after graduation to live with her parents. She is among a new trend of students that move back home after graduating, known as boomerang students.
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