MSU Commencement honors spring and fall 2020 graduates

Even with the unique challenges and changes in the spring and fall semesters of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Morehead State University students completed an academic milestone.  

MSU honored more than 1,500 degree candidates at the virtual 2020 Spring and Fall Commencement ceremonies held on Saturday, Dec. 5. There was a total of 1,028 degrees handed out for the spring and summer 2020 graduates and 515 for the graduates from fall and winter 2020. 

Supporters of these graduates were able to visit www.moreheadstate.edu/graduation to view virtual graduation ceremony videos. Each graduate's name was read as part of the ceremony.  

Olivia Lohmeier (20) of Cincinnati, Ohio, served as the commencement speaker representing the Elmer R. Smith College of Business and Technology. She is the daughter of Marty and Doug Lohmeier. She graduated with a 3.94 cumulative GPA and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Information Systems Area.    

A member of MSU's volleyball team and beach volleyball team, Lohmeier was recently honored as one of six Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Scholar-Athletes for 2020, the highest individual honor for a conference student-athlete. She was also honored in the 2019-2020 academic year as the MSU Elmer R. Smith College of Business and Technology Outstanding Computer Information Systems Student of the Year. She has been a multi-year selection to the OVC's Commissioner's Honor Roll and the MSU's Dean's List while also earning multiple OVC Academic Medals of Honor.  

Lohmeier is a member of the MSU volleyball leadership team and a volleyball representative on the core leadership team of Athletes in Action (AIA). She's also volunteered for numerous off and on-campus events, including Better Life Church, College Night, Freshman Move-In and multiple youth clinics.  

Lohmeier was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Midwest Region Team and a VolleyballMag.com Honorable Mention All-American in 2019. A First Team All-OVC selection for two straight seasons, she ranked Top 25 in the NCAA in five statistical categories in 2019, including ranking seventh in the country in total points and eighth in total kills.  

Josiah Michael Hudson (20) of South Shore, Kentucky, served as the commencement speaker representing the College of Science. He is the son of Jan and Greg Hudson. He graduated with a 3.9 cumulative GPA and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences.  

Hudson was the recipient of the David Watts Scholarship, the Kentucky Scholar Award, the Alumni Scholarship and the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship. He also participated in Northeast Kentucky Area Health Education Center's STEPS program during the 2019-20 academic year. Hudson has been involved with MSU's CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ International) since his freshman year. He joined the leadership his sophomore year and currently serves as MSU CRU's president.  

Hudson has been accepted into the University of Louisville School of Medicine with plans to become a pediatrician or Med-Peds doctor. He eventually wants to return home to South Shore to practice medicine at his father's pediatric office, Christ Care Pediatrics.  

Alexa Potts (20) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as the commencement speaker representing Caudill College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. She is the daughter of Dan Potts and Amy Potts. She graduated with a 4.0 cumulative GPA and earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Legal Studies with a minor in Spanish.    

At Morehead State, Potts was a member of the George M. Luckey Jr. Academic Honors Program. She was an Undergraduate Research Fellow for three years, where she presented her research on travel writing in Kentucky at the Kentucky Philological Association and the Celebration of Student Scholarship in 2018. She also represented the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the 2017 Idea Festival in Louisville.    

As a member and team captain of MSU Rifle, Potts was named Air Rifle All-American and First-Team All-OVC (Ohio Valley Conference) for air rifle and smallbore during the 2018-19 season. That same year, she set the school record for air rifle individual scoring versus Jacksonville State. At the 2019 OVC Championships, Potts also set the smallbore individual scoring record, the smallbore individual 20 shots prone school record and the individual aggregate school record. She qualified for the 2019 NCAA Championships as an individual.     

To view videos from MSU's Spring and Fall Commencement Ceremonies, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/graduation.