CLC's 49th commencement ceremonies set for May 12
The College of Lake County will hold its 49th annual commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 12 in the Physical Education Center at the Grayslake Campus, 19351 W. Washington St.
Commencement will consist of two ceremonies, one at 10 a.m. for transfer degrees (A.A., A.S., A.E.S., A.F.A.) and the other at 2 p.m. for A.A.S. and A.G.S. degrees as well as certificates. The college will confer 1,993 degrees and certificates to 1,841 graduates. Waukegan residents comprise the largest percentage of graduates (13 percent), followed by Mundelein and Grayslake (7 percent each), Gurnee (6 percent) and Round Lake Beach, Lake Villa and Zion (5 percent each).
DeRionne Pollard, Ph.D., president of Maryland-based Montgomery College and a former CLC professor and administrator, will deliver the commencement address. From 1995 to 2005, she taught English at CLC before moving into various administrative roles, including vice president for Educational Affairs from 2005-2008. She left CLC to become president of Las Positas College in Livermore, Calif., until 2010, when she accepted her current position at Montgomery College.
Dr. Pollard was recently named one of Washington D.C.'s 100 Most Powerful Women by "Washingtonian" magazine. She also won a 2017 Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a Visionary Award by the Washington Area Women's Foundation. Dr. Pollard's M.A. and B.A. in English are from Iowa State University, and her Ph.D. is in educational leadership and policy studies in higher education from Loyola University Chicago.
Both ceremonies will include a welcome address from new CLC President Lori Suddick, Ed.D., who began May 1 and previously served as vice president of learning and chief academic officer for Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, Wis.
Remarks will also be made by Richard A. Anderson, Board of Trustees chair; Corryn Smith, 2017-18 president of the Student Government Association; Jeff Varblow, business instructor and winner of the 2018 Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Member (10 a.m. ceremony); and A. Teal Mercaeant, sociology/gender and sexuality studies instructor and winner of the 2018 Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Member (2 p.m. ceremony). Students Samantha Gallagher and Briana Engstrom will sing the national anthem for, respectively, the morning and afternoon ceremonies, and Sam Valenti, chair of the CLC Foundation Board of Directors, will offer congratulations.
The morning ceremony will have 305 graduates participating, and the afternoon ceremony will have 247 participants. The ceremonies are free and open to the community. No tickets are
required; seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Immediately after each ceremony is a complimentary reception with refreshments for graduates, faculty and guests in the tent on Parking Lot 1. For more information, visit www.clcillinois.edu/graduation.
The morning ceremony will be streamed live on CLC's YouTube channel at
https://tinyurl.com/yc3753do, and the afternoon session will be streamed at
https://tinyurl.com/y94xysg9.
Graduates and their families are encouraged to share their CLC graduation photos and use the hashtags #CLCgrad18 on CLC social media sites: Facebook (College of Lake County), Twitter (CLCNewsRoom) or Instagram (Collegeoflakecounty).
WRLR 98.3 will rebroadcast both ceremonies at 1 p.m. May 20.
Class of 2018 statistics; youngest and oldest participating graduates
CLC's Class of 2018 comprises 1,841 graduates earning degrees or certificates, of which 46 percent are A.A. degrees and 24 percent are A.A.S. degrees. Another 8 percent are A.S. degrees, 2 percent A.E.S. degrees and 18 percent are certificates.
Sixty one percent of the graduating class is female, and 39 percent is male. Sixty percent are ages 18-24, while 22 percent are ages 25-34 and 10 percent fall in the 35-44 age group.
The youngest participating graduate is Alberto Lara, 18, of Park City, who will receive an A.A. in political science. "I've appreciated the very inclusive atmosphere at CLC," said Lara, who plans to transfer in the fall to Northeastern Illinois University and major in political science. "The professors, counselors and academic advisors have been very accessible and happy to help students." Lara, who enrolled at CLC while he was a student at Warren Township High School, is planning a career in a federal agency such as the Department of Homeland Security.
The oldest participating graduate is Sharon Epps, 63, a North Chicago resident who will earn an Associate in General Studies degree. "Graduating from CLC will be an exciting moment in my life because earning a college degree has been a dream of mine and a 25-year journey to reach this point," said Epps, who has juggled CLC courses with volunteer work, raising children and working as an administrative assistant at a community newspaper. "At CLC, I had great professors who let me express myself and develop my writing skills. There's an atmosphere of one-on-one encouragement, and I found it very uplifting."
CLC's Summer Session begins June 4, and Fall Semester starts Aug. 20. For details, visit www.clcillinois.edu/register-for-summer-and-fall.