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Young named student speaker for MSU Fall 2019 Commencement

03 December 2019

Sarah Young was named the student speaker for Morehead State University’s 2019 Fall Commencement ceremony. The ceremony takes place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Academic-Athletic Center, 111 Playforth Place in Morehead.

Sarah Young of Fayetteville, Ohio, is the daughter of Fred “Marty” Young and Joyce Young. She is graduating with two degrees, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies with a minor in philosophy.

Young has been a tutor with MSU’s Tutoring and Learning Center since October 2016. This year, she was awarded the Molly McBride Tutoring Excellence Award, the highest honor awarded to an MSU tutor. She has held executive positions in multiple student clubs and organizations. She was social chair and editor of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women; secretary and vice president of Alpha Lambda Pi Legal Studies Club; treasurer of the Ceramics Guild; and assistant attorney general and supreme court justice of the Student Government Association.

Young, who graduated from Fayetteville High School with a graduating class of 67, said she saw going from a small high school to a university like MSU as a reason to use her interests and outgoing personality to make connections and get involved.

“I never thought of a bigger environment being any different. You see people and you socialize with them. You see something you’re interested in and then you do it,” she said. “I’m really, really going to miss getting that diversity of all my interests.”

As an Undergraduate Research Fellow, Young presented at the Celebration of Student Scholarship in 2017. She has participated in MSU Education Abroad, traveling to Prague, Slovenia, Hungary and Italy. She spoke about her experiences at the 2018 American Association of Paralegal Educators national conference in Newport, Rhode Island.

This year, Young completed an internship with Rowan County Child Support Services at the Rowan County Attorney office in Morehead. She has also volunteered at the Pro Se Divorce Clinic in Morehead, a partnership with Legal Aid of the Bluegrass that helps assist people on divorce matters to members in low-income areas.

Young plans to enroll in law school at the University of South Dakota, where she also may earn a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology. She has career goals to become a trial lawyer or a defense attorney in criminal law.

“I’ve made some really genuine connections and really great memories here, and it does feel really weird that it won’t be too much longer that I won’t get to see the same people that I have for the past four years,” Young said. “This campus is so inclusive. What I think is so important about Morehead State is it’s such a community and I really think it is an undersold value.”

Additional information on commencement exercises is available by calling 606-783-2008 or visiting www.moreheadstate.edu/graduation.