BEND, OR -- Oregon State University's Cascades campus in Bend celebrates its class of 2024 on Sunday, "We have 355 students who will receive Bachelors, Masters or Doctoral degrees. In our 23-year history, that is our third largest class," says the school's Christine Coffin. "About 62 of them are the first in their families to attend and graduate from college."

Among those receiving graduate degrees are the first to complete the three-year Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the campus, "We will be graduating 44 students from that program and they’ll be ready to go into clinics and start helping people live a better quality of life." It's an in-demand field, especially in Bend, "But one of the reasons that the degree program was started here in 2021 is because of the real need of physical therapists throughout the state, and especially in rural areas," says Coffin. "Often rural areas, they may not have a physical therapist at all. So that means that individuals who need care, either simply don’t have the opportunity to see a professional or they have to travel miles to get there." 

She tells KBND News the school is aware of ceremonies elsewhere this season disrupted by protestors. But she doesn’t think that will happen in Bend, "We support free speech and free expression, and we have gone through some preparations to make sure that should a protest happen, that we can manage it fairly and still have a focus on the graduating students."

Coffin expects around 3,000 people to attend Sunday’s commencement at OSU-Cascades in Bend. The ceremony starts at 10 a.m.

Photo: OSU-Cascades graduates celebrate Commencement in 2023; courtesy of Oregon State University.