 On Saturday, May 6th, the University of Pikeville will be hosting their annual commencement ceremony at the Appalachian Wireless Arena. Many friends and family members of the graduating class will be in attendance to show their support. The medical and optometry ceremony will begin at 9.30 a.m. and the undergraduate ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday morning this week we have approximately 200 medical and optometry students who will be graduating at 9.30 a.m. and then at 2 p.m. in the afternoon we have another 300 to 350 undergraduate and master's degree students who will graduate. The majority of the undergrads of course will enter the job market and they'll be working to find places of employment for the next several years. Who knows how long people stay in jobs these days, right? But we have a significant number of our undergraduate students who end up going on to graduate school or medical school. We've certainly accepted a pretty large number of them this year at our own medical schools and we look forward to a continued relationship with those students. Cancer. It's a very scary word. But an outstanding treatment facility was here at home. I was led to the Lawson Cancer Center. As a nurse practitioner at the Lawson Cancer Center we are champions for our patients. I am so happy for Robert. The treatment worked. The retention and graduation rate at the university is much higher than it has been in recent years. Once these seniors graduate they will be taking the next big step toward a fulfilling career. Both the retention and graduation rates have been on the rise at UPIKE over the last several years and that's why you're seeing larger graduating classes each year. Students who start here are staying here and then they're graduating and our goal, of course, is for as many of them as possible to stay in the region and continue to work here and live here. Graduation is a wonderful time of celebration and we have so many people who are from here who finish up here and so many people who come in from outside. It's just such a great opportunity to show off our beautiful city and our wonderful region. I'm just glad this is such a welcoming place where people can feel at home. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Nick Collum.