Gallatin, Tennessee – December 18, 2025 – Volunteer State Community College (Vol State) was honored to celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s High School Equivalency (HSE) graduates during a ceremony held on Thursday, December 18, 2025, in Caudill Hall on the Vol State Gallatin campus. The service recognized the hard work, determination, and persistence of students from across the region.
Volunteer State Community College hosted commencement to award graduates’ degrees today, May 6 at 10 a.m. at the Pickel Field House on the Gallatin, TN campus. Although only 375 walked today in the ceremony, Vol State had a total of 823 who applied to graduate this spring. Of this group, 298 graduated with honors. The College also commemorated veteran students with a special coin given by Dr. Regina Watkins from the Tennessee Board of Regents. Students participating had family watching from the UK, Vietnam, Brazil, Germany, Toronto, Japan, and Nigeria.
Fifty-four students have graduated from the Adult Education High School Equivalency program at Volunteer State Community College. The program held a graduation ceremony recently at the Vol State campus to celebrate.
Nicholas Bishop, Esq., Vice President for Economic and Community Development at Volunteer State Community College, was the guest speaker. Graduate Brandon Dees (pictured above) was the Class Valedictorian. Both individuals addressed those in attendance during the evening commencement program on June 23rd.
Volunteer State Community College held two graduation ceremonies Saturday in order to provide social distancing for the graduates. The morning and afternoon ceremonies were attended by hundreds of students. Graduation was limited to the graduates and officiants from the college. Family and friends were able to watch the event live online. Last spring, graduation was an entirely virtual event.
Forty-five students have graduated from the Adult Education High School Equivalency program at Volunteer State Community College. The program held a graduation ceremony recently at the Vol State campus to celebrate. LaToya Newsom, assistant administrator of Performance and Accountability with the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development, addressed the graduates.
Volunteer State Community College celebrated Fall Graduation 2020 with a virtual ceremony today. More than eight hundred students were eligible to participate in commencement, including 312 TN Promise students and 228 TN Reconnect students. Those programs provide tuition-free education for eligible Tennessee students. The online ceremony featured short speeches from administrators and faculty members. As the names of the graduates were read, hundreds of pictures and short videos produced by the students were shown.
Students, family, and well-wishers filled the Pickel Field House on Saturday to celebrate Volunteer State Community College fall commencement. Austin Bonebrake of Portland was named Outstanding Fall Graduate at the ceremony. Faculty nominators cited his overcoming adversity with resilience. Bonebrake was in a sledding accident that broke his C-6 vertebrae and severely damaged his C-5 vertebrae. He came to Vol State quadriplegic, with some limited use of his hands.
Spring 2019 graduation at Volunteer State Community College brought hundreds of students, family members, and friends to the Pickel Field House on the Gallatin campus Saturday. Among them were adults who were the first to graduate using the TN Reconnect tuition-free college program. There are 95 TN Reconnect students eligible to graduate this spring with degrees or technical certificates. Holly King of Gallatin is graduating with an Associate of Science in Teaching degree. “I was a single mom with two kids, so I couldn’t go back.
