SNAP Back In Time takes a look back at newsmakers from yesteryear. 

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 1981

Commencement

Stanly Technical College had its 1981 commencement exercises, the ninth and largest in the college’s history, for 171 graduates Sept. 17 in the auditorium at Albemarle High School.

Speakers included Paula Byrd (Practical Nursing Education), invocation; Jeffrey Chance (Respiratory Therapy), program introduction; and Patricia R. Smith (Practical Nursing Education), benediction. Barbara Unik and Larry Lambert served as marshals.

Dr. Charles H. Byrd, college president, introduced C.B. Crook Jr., president of the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce, who praised Stanly Tech as the strongest supporter of the Chamber and challenged graduates to get involved in their communities because “it is in giving and sharing of ourselves that we are the real benefactors.”

Special awards were presented to: Most Outstanding Vocational Student — Molly Flynn Davis, graduate of Practical Nursing Education; Most Outstanding Technical Student — Charlotte Pierson, graduate of Fashion Merchandising and Marketing Technology. The recipients of these awards were chosen by the faculty.

The Dr. Charles H. Byrd Leadership Award, established by the Student Government Association of the college to recognize the student who exemplified outstanding leadership through service to fellow students, the college and the community, was awarded to Ronald Dwain Shaw, graduate of the Biomedical Equipment Technology Program.