Three Ohio State graduating seniors and the campus that shaped them

Family, friends, students, faculty, and staff came together in Ohio State Marion’s Guthery Community Room on Thursday, December 11th to celebrate a group of Buckeyes standing on the precipice of a new chapter in their lives, the move from college to career. Graduating college is one of those rare life moments that feel both huge and strangely quiet at the same time — like standing in the doorway between who you were and who you’re about to become.

Education major Amber Roth didn’t hesitate to share what she’d remember most about attending Ohio State Marion. “I haven’t had a professor I didn’t feel connected with,” she said. “If I’m having something going on and I send them an email, they care way more about me than whatever else is happening in class,” she said.

For Roth, Ohio State Marion wasn’t just a campus. It was a launchpad built on personal relationships, small classes, and professors who knew her name long before she knew her own potential.

According to Roth, that sense of being seen — truly seen — is what carried her from a small hometown to becoming a seventh‑grade math teacher, a varsity softball coach, and a young professional already dreaming bigger. “I do want to be a principal,” she admitted, though she laughed at how life might shift once she has a family of her own. Coaching, she said, will always be part of her. “I played ball for twelve years. It was my whole world and still is.”

Biology major Madalyn Hartley’s story began the same way — with a choice to stay small so she could grow big. “Ohio State Marion was the first and only college I applied to,” she said. “I liked knowing my classes would be small. I was going to know my professors.”

Hartley shared that she didn’t just know them, she flourished because of them.

As a freshman, she struggled with studying until one professor sat with her, week after week, teaching her how to learn. Later, a research mentor connected her with Dr. Francis Sivikov — a partnership that changed everything. “She taught me how to network, who to meet, and so many public‑speaking skills,” Madalyn said. “I’m definitely grateful for the community I’ve built.”

Now graduating with a biology degree and a psychology minor, she’s preparing for medical school while working in a neonatal intensive care unit in Dublin, Ohio. Her dream is to stay in Ohio — maybe even return to Ohio State as a medical student.

Dr. Sivakoff sees these stories from the other side — the faculty side. For her, commencement is more than a ceremony. “It’s the culmination of a ton of work and the support of a huge net of people,” she said. “At Ohio State Marion, it’s extra special because of our close relationships with students and seeing them grow,” said Sivakoff.

She spoke of Madalyn with unmistakable pride: “She has grown so much as a person, and as a scientist, and as a critical thinker,” Sivakoff said.

And then she uttered words that tie all Ohio State Marion student stories together. Sivakoff said, “All of our graduates can identify at least one faculty member they had that kind of relationship with. That is who we are celebrating today.”

Kiersten Spiegel, also a biology major, laughed when asked what she would remember most. “The real question is what won’t I remember?” she said.

According to Spiegel, a few days earlier, she had walked into the campus library — empty, quiet, unchanged — and burst into tears. “I just remembered Dr. Tiff McCurdy being up there, and me and all my friends studying for finals,” she said. Those memories were not just academic; they were personal. They were the moments that shaped her early adulthood.

She talked about meeting Dr. Yoder, her mentor, and the faculty who became something closer to family. She talked about working on campus for years, building relationships she hopes will last a lifetime. That’s how intertwined her life had become with the people at Ohio State Marion.

When asked what it meant to earn a degree from Ohio State, Spiegel didn’t hesitate. “To me, it’s all about The Ohio State University at Marion,” she said. “I feel like I grasped so much more knowledge here than I ever could have anywhere else, because of how invested the faculty are in every student.”

Her immediate plans include hoping to earn a job on campus, a master’s degree in clinical trial design, and eventually medical school. “My overall life goal is to become a doctor and do clinical trials,” Spiegel said with the kind of conviction that comes from knowing exactly who helped her get this far.

Although regional campus students officially graduate with their counterparts from all Ohio State campuses Sunday, December 21, 2025, at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio State Marion has built a tradition of offering a smaller more intimate graduation celebration on campus with for those who attended Ohio State Marion for the entirety of their undergraduate degree. The hourlong ceremony also celebrated those students reaching the halfway milestone and earning an associate of arts degree, only available on Ohio State’s regional campuses.