Download the Entire Summer 2009 Issue in PDF42nd Commencement
This year 1,402 students received an A.A. degree and/or a certificate of achievement. 821 students received an Associate of Arts degree and 581 students received a Certificate of Achievement, which includes summer 2008, fall 2009, and spring 2009 semesters. Among these students, seventeen countries were represented by our international students. The oldest graduate was eighty and the youngest was nineteen. There were 119 students graduating with honors, having earned a 3.5 grade point average or higher, and 5 graduates with a perfect 4.0.
Chip Marcbank introduced this year’s commencement speaker, Sharaud Moore, an alumnus who gave an inspiring speech challenging the class of 2009 to develop strong shoulders. “We can expect our country to grow if we ourselves grow. If we want to fix the national economy and politics, we must fix our personal economy and politics. I implore you not to point the finger or place the blame, but to shoulder the responsibility of creating a better, communal, national and global.
The R .Dudley Boyce Outstanding Student Award recipient, Lorena Ortega was introduced by Dr. Dibakar Barua, Professor of English. Lorena has been accepted at Cal State University Long Beach and will major in English Education with an emphasis in Linguistics.