Ceremony marks the 116th annual commencement for the College
POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — College of the Ozarks will host its 116th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 6, 2023, in The Howell W. Keeter Athletic Complex on the College campus. The ceremony will honor 308 graduating students: 80 Bachelor of Arts, 211 Bachelor of Science, and 17 Bachelor of Science in Nursing. This is a ticketed event for graduates and their families.
The top five majors of the graduating class are business/accounting, education, psychology, agriculture, and nursing.
Christian (Woelk) Zaal will speak at commencement at 10 a.m. in The Howell W. Keeter Athletic Complex.
Zaal is Managing Director of Wyvern Road LLC, which offers a combination of management, advisory, and financial investment services to select private companies. In this capacity, Zaal currently serves as chief operating officer for Tissue Differentiation Intelligence (TDi), a medical device company that has pioneered SonoVision - bringing AI-enabled ultrasound to the operating room. She manages all aspects of development, quality, supply chain, and research, including clinical trials for an innovative access technology that provides surgeons real-time visualization of neural structures during spine surgery. Additionally, Zaal recently helped launch Columbus Commercial Services, which provides contract services for commercial properties.
Before these efforts, Zaal served as director of corporate affairs and chief of Staff at NuVasive, a one-billion-dollar public company focused on developing minimally invasive products and procedures for the spine. Zaal also ran the NuVasive Spine Foundation which provides world-class spine surgery to underprivileged patients through direct and in-direct global medical missions.
The GOLD Candidates
Every year during commencement, officer candidates are commissioned as part of the ceremony. This year, the following will be commissioned into the U.S. Army:
Officer Candidate Garret Scott is an exercise science major from Branson, Missouri. He is commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the Missouri Army National Guard as a transportation officer for B Company, 1107th Aviation Group.