'Unique in our people and our purpose': Montana Tech celebrates graduates at commencement

Students donning graduation caps and hard hats filed into the HPER Saturday morning as Montana Technological University celebrated its graduating students.

“Montana Tech is unique because of our people and our purpose,” said Johnny MacLean, Montana Tech’s chancellor. “We show up with dirty boots and calloused hands, and we stick to problems until they're done.”

Montana Tech honored the achievements of 400 students at their 2026 Commencement ceremonies.

The university hosted two ceremonies, each followed by a reception for the graduates and their families. The morning ceremony honored graduates from the College of Letters, Sciences and Professional Studies and Highlands College. The afternoon ceremony honored graduates from the Lance College of Mines and Engineering and the Graduate School.

“Today is a bittersweet day for many of us,” said student commencement speaker Matthew Ashcraft, an Exercise and Health Sciences graduate. Graduation, he said, was a moment students “both chased, and feared.”

“Montana Tech has prepared us well,” he said. “Not just with knowledge, but with resilience, curiosity and a community that always had our backs.”

Applause filled the room as students made their way across the stage for the presentation of degrees.

“My encouragement for you as you face new, difficult decisions and new, difficult tasks is to remember that anything meaningful will be difficult,” said MacLean, “And it will also be worth it.”