Spring commencement Saturday at MCC

McHenry County College will hold its spring commencement at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 14, in the college gym/multi-purpose room in Building A, 8900 Route 14 in Crystal Lake.

The ceremony will honor students who have earned associate degrees and/or certificates during the 2015-16 academic year. It has more than 566 graduation candidates this spring who have applied for more than 605 degrees and certificates.

One highlight will be a presentation by 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Nick Kachiroubas, Ph.D. of Crystal Lake. He is a professor at DePaul University and is one of six recipients of MCC's 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award, along with John Cain of Ringwood, Wesley Crain of Woodstock, Mark Martin of Union, Nancy Merkling of Woodstock, and Ryan Blum of Paris, France.

Student speakers will be Adrian Nuno and Andrew Nuno of Crystal Lake. Both students have been members of the MCC Forensics Team and won several awards for their speeches, including a gold award for Duo Interpretation at the 2016 Phi Rho Pi National Tournament in Costa Mesa, California. They also are members of Phi Theta Kappa honor society and Adrian was the Honors in Action chairperson and led a project to promote mental health awareness called "Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness: A New Frontier." In addition, they both were student workers; Andrew in the Sustainability Center and Adrian in the Student Life Office.

Also speaking will be MCC president Clinton Gabbard, Ph.D. In addition, Anne Humphrey, English instructor, will lead the faculty charge speech. She is MCC's nominee for the 2016 Illinois Community College Trustee Association Outstanding Full-time Faculty Member of the Year.