FERRIDAY — After all the diplomas were handed out and tassels were moved to the left side Thursday afternoon, most graduates at Central Louisiana Technical College filed out of the multipurpose building to greet their families.

For more photos from Thursday’s graduation click here.

But for building technology specialist graduate Joshua Cowan, part of his family was sitting right next to him the whole time.

Joshua’s father, Harvey Cowan, also graduated Thursday afternoon with an associate of applied science degree in information and communications technology/computer networking support.

The family duo was among 56 other graduates who received diplomas at the graduation service, which was the first at the new Shelby M. Jackson Ferriday campus.

Harvey said the privilege to receive his degree, but to also do so next to his son, made the experience that much better.

“It was kind of surreal,” Harvey said. “It’s definitely something I’ll never forget.”

After dropping his son off to enroll at the technical college two years ago, Harvey said he wound up signing himself up for classes just a few weeks later.

“It was just getting hard to find work, and I saw they had this associates program, so I just went for it,” Harvey said. “It’s been a great experience.”

Since the two were studying in different programs, Joshua said he didn’t have much interaction with his father — except in the hallway.

“It was kind of weird at first because I would just look up and be like, ‘Hey, daddy!” Joshua said. “It’s definitely not something you see every day.”

Apart from the father and son graduation, emotions were also high for one Vidalia accounting technology graduate who read a poem before the diplomas were distributed.

“I just kept thinking about all the support from my family and friends during my time at school and started crying a little bit,” Nikki Fortress said. “It’s been an unreal experience.”

After her speech, Campus Dean Mignonne Ater, said Thursday’s ceremony will always be special to her and the college.

“We’re all extremely proud of all our students and all their hard work that’s coming to fruition today,” Ater said. “Our motto is changing lives and creating futures, and I definitely think we did that today.”