BOONE, Iowa—The 91st Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Boone Campus Commencement will take place at 10:00 a.m., Friday, May rd in the Boone Campus Gymnasium. More than 200 Boone Campus students will graduate this spring. A reception will follow immediately after the commencement in the L.W. Courter Center.
DMACC Boone Campus Liberal Arts student Brandt Damman of Ames will welcome family and friends to the graduation ceremony. He is a 2019 Coca Cola Silver Scholar, a member of the 2019 All-Iowa Academic Team, a Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society member and a DMACC Honors Student member.
The Clerk of Court for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, John Courter, will be the commencement speaker.
Courter was born and raised in Boone. He received an A.S. from the DMACC Boone Campus in 1985, a B.A. from the University of Arizona in 1987 and a J.D. from Drake University Law School in 1991. He prosecuted state narcotics and violent crime offenses for a regional drug task force in Southeast Iowa from 1991-1996 and for the Polk County Attorney’s Office – Drug and Gang Unit from 1996-1999. He then joined the United States Attorney’s Office where he prosecuted federal narcotics, violent crime, and public corruption offenses from 1999-2013. He left the Department of Justice in 2013 and accepted a position working directly with the Federal Courts. In his position as Clerk of Court, Courter and his staff oversee and manage all court operations at the federal courthouses in Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Davenport, Iowa.
Courter’s parents have also been extremely impactful to the Boone Campus over the years. Sally Courter serves on the DMACC Boone Campus Foundation Board. The late Lloyd Courter was a long-time member of the DMACC Board of Directors and was instrumental and influential in the formation of the Boone Campus. In fact, the Boone Campus Student Center, the L.W. Courter Center, is named after him.
DMACC Boone Campus Provost Drew Nelson will preside over the commencement. A nursing pinning ceremony will take place in the Boone Campus Auditorium following the commencement.
(contributed press release)
