Family, friends, faculty and staff of Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo gathered May 8 to celebrate the nearly 1,400 individuals who earned more than 1,700 certificates and degrees as members of the Class of 2026.
In four commencement ceremonies in Hingst Hall on the Kokomo Campus, Ivy Tech celebrated the work of students from throughout the College’s Kokomo Service Area, which includes Cass, Fulton, Howard, Miami, Pulaski and Tipton counties, as well as students from as far away as Arizona and Florida. The more than 1,360 students in the class are expected to have completed work on 1,765 degrees and certificates by the end of the Fall 2025 and Spring and Summer 2026 terms.
Included in the numbers are 490 high school students who earned 554 college credentials while completing their high school diplomas. The students earned their credentials through dual enrollment classes at Ivy Tech and dual-credit courses at Caston, Eastern, Kokomo, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Maconaquah, North Miami, Peru, Pioneer, Rochester, Tipton, Tri-Central, West Central, Western, and Winamac high schools in the service area as well as Noblesville and Westfield courtesy of the Automotive Technician Education Pathway program with Chariot Automotive Group.)
Dr. Ethan Heicher, chancellor of the Ivy Tech Kokomo Service Area, extended his congratulations to the graduates for their many achievements and acknowledged those who supported them.
During the ceremonies, Ivy Tech Kokomo awarded the honorary degree Associate of Science in College and Community Service for 2026 to Tanya Foutch of Kokomo. Foutch has served the Kokomo Campus as both a Campus Board of Trustees member and as its representative to Ivy Tech’s State Board of Trustees. Her leadership has spanned the Kokomo Campus’s $43 million renovation as well as the recent EV Battery Plant standup, both projects that have transformed Ivy Tech in the Kokomo Service Area. An engineering leader at Stellantis for 30 years, Tanya has worked to nurture the next generation of engineers, scientists and mathematicians through STEM campus and projects that have impacted hundreds of students.
Four members of the Class of 2026 were selected as student speakers, one for each ceremony. These included Brady Mock of Peru, Coy Cunningham of Kokomo, Braylen Nipper of Peru, and William (Zach) Sturch of Peru.
Also recognized during the ceremonies were Kyle Wylie, assistant professor of Visual Communications, winner of the President’s Award for Excellence in Instruction as a full-time faculty member; Hans Lapp, adjunct faculty in Cyber Security & Information Assurance, winner of the Adjunct Award for Excellence in Instruction; and Daniel Wyant, Business and Marketing teacher at Peru High School, winner of the Dual Credit Faculty of the Year.
Jenna Jackson of Kokomo, who has earned an Associate of Science degree in Business Administration, was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence as the outstanding scholar in the graduating class.
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