Commencement

Wednesday, May 5, 2004

President's Greetings And Remarks

Good evening and welcome to Seminole Community College.

Graduation is always such an exciting evening, it is an ending but also the beginning of the next fabulous chapter of your life.

To our graduates, tonight is your night.  But the future is also yours because of what you have accomplished at Seminole Community College.  Remember - be yourself only better! And I hope that you are much better for your time at SCC.

Tonight we are graduating 800 individuals - our largest group ever! And we are thrilled to have 196 who will be marching across the stage.

To our amazing faculty and staff, thank you for your all your efforts, for your late nights, for your dedication to excellence and to these students. You are the key to our promise that they will be themselves - only better. Please stand and be recognized.

Finally, to the family and friends of our graduates. Only you know what it has taken to get your graduate to this evening. Thank you for your love, support - nights doing the dishes and cooking dinner - and encouragement that made this accomplishment possible. Graduates, would you please thank your family and friends!!!

Before I introduce tonight's distinguished commencement speaker, I'd like to take a moment of presidential privilege to recognize some of the accomplishments of this class. It has been an exceptional year for Seminole Community College and I would like to tell you why.

The gold stoles that are being worn by our Phi Theta Kappa students indicate that they are members of our honor fraternity; that they are scholars of distinction. I am proud to tell you that again this year our Phi Theta Kappa chapter was recognized as one of the top 100 PTK chapters in the world. What an honor - congratulations PTK members on all of your hard work in achieving that distinction.

Phi Beta Lambda, our business fraternity, has also been named Florida's chapter of the year for 2004! Phi Beta Lambda members are wearing royal blue stoles this evening. Also just a few weeks ago, under the direction of our Phi Beta Lambda advisor, Sherry Jenkins, our PBL team competed in the state conference and won 43 awards, including 12 first place awards and all 5 accounting awards!

This fall, our student leadership team was honored as the best in Florida, by Florida Leader Magazine, and was featured on the cover.

Last month, our SCC interior design students walked away with four prestigious scholarship awards in a design competition among all of the colleges in Florida with interior design programs, beating out tough competitors like Ringling School of Design, FSU, University of Florida, and more!

And this week, our women's fastpitch softball team is competing for the state championship.  Yes, we consider ourselves to be a very well-rounded college and are very proud of all of our athletic teams - women's and men's basketball and men's baseball, who last year went to the junior college world series and finished sixth in the nation.

You can be very proud of your community college.  We will enroll over 35,000 students this year,

We are the 39th largest producer of A.A. degrees in the nation.

And we are the fastest growing community college in the state of Florida, and have been for the last five years. I like to believe that it is the personal attention for which we have become known that makes the difference. Our faculty and staff are changing lives every day - one at a time.

But perhaps the number that makes me most proud is that we enroll 33 percent of the graduating seniors from our local high schools - 1 out of every 3 high school seniors are choosing SCC. That is the best record of the 28 community colleges in the state!

And speaking of success, I want to close by recognizing just a few of our individual student successes.

One of our graduates here tonight received "honorable mention" as "Florida college student of the year" by Florida Leader Magazine.  Ayanna Beckles, also our Oviedo SGA president, was one of only 13 college students so honored throughout the entire state. Ayanna, please stand and be recognized.

Another graduate, Neda Keshani, was named to the first team for the PTK All-Florida academic team and she was also awarded the "most outstanding member award." Only one of these "top honors student" awards is given for the entire state. Neda was responsible for spearheading the SCC day of service commemorating September 11. Neda, please stand and be recognized for your dedication and leadership both inside and outside our classrooms!

By the way, both Neda and Ayanna were also named to the prestigious USA Today "All-Academic Team," along with fellow PTK member Aaron Corwin who is graduating tonight. Congratulations, Aaron.

Presentation of endowed teaching chairs and career service awards

Student success is directly related to having the best and the brightest college faculty -- for they are the heart of the institution. Last year, the Seminole Community College Foundation, Inc. began awarding 16 endowed teaching chairs at $100,000 each to recognize excellence among our faculty. The idea was to get businesses and individuals to commit $60,000 which the state would match with $40,000 and the College Foundation would then make cash awards to outstanding faculty.

Tonight we are awarding two more of these teaching chairs. Let me explain the awards process for these $5,000 cash awards. The faculty had to compete for them. So, even as the students were doing term papers and preparing portfolios for their classes, so were the faculty. One of the chairs is an honor-based chair that recognizes excellence and longevity of service to the college. The other is based on innovative faculty projects.

It is my distinct honor to ask the recipients of this year's two endowed teaching chairs to join me on stage.

Barbara Hunnicutt and Dr. Nelda Malm, would you please join us up here.

Barbara Hunnicutt has been teaching biology at SCC for over 20 years. Barbara has received numerous honors, including being recognized for "outstanding leadership in education" by the Central Florida Consortium. But Barbara will tell you that her highest honor is when she sees "The eyes that shine when a student says, 'now I get it!'" Congratulations, Barbara, on being the first recipient of the Seimens Endowed Teaching Chair.

Dr. Nelda Malm, professor of nutrition, is the recipient of the Winter Park Health Foundation endowed teaching chair.  This chair is a project-based chair, one that is given to a project that is truly innovative and far-reaching. Nelda's project involves developing new and exciting ways to teach and create learning environments for students. Congratulations, Nelda.

Congratulations to both of this year's endowed teaching chair recipients and we look forward to honoring more of our faculty next year. And thank you to the hard-working members of the SCC Foundation Board for raising over $5 million for the Foundation over the past five years.

On behalf of the college and the SCC Foundation, who is providing these awards, it is my honor to recognize three recipients of this year's "career service excellence awards."

Molly Dykes has been an integral part of our Oviedo Campus since it opened, and a valuable SCC employee for years prior to that. She is brimming with loyalty and dedication to the Oviedo Campus and to SCC, always championing the interests of her co-workers as well as our students. She volunteers for any and every task that comes her way, and is extremely active in many internal SCC organizations as well as many external organizations throughout our community. As one of her colleagues noted, Molly is "dedicated to the service of mankind! She is special! She is industrious! She is an asset to this great institution!"

Anne Humphery has nearly 30 years of service to SCC, to our students, and most currently to our adult high school. Her title is administrative support specialist, and support is what she gives in extraordinary ways! As one of her colleagues noted in his nomination letter, "Anne is the central reference point for everyone in the adult high school: adjuncts, faculty and students. The support she provides to faculty is legendary, and the mentoring and encouragement she provides our students is invaluable. Anne always willingly and capably takes on whatever tasks are necessary to support students in pursuit of their diploma."

Our third and final recipient is Beverly Sjoblom, a selfless and dedicated worker at SCC for over 20 years, and at our Oviedo Campus since it opened. Beverly truly is beloved at our Oviedo Campus where she has demonstrated hard work, dedication, and commitment, not only with her job but also with her co-workers and our students. Her work has touched and improved so many of our facilities at SCC, but more importantly, her work and her smile has touched all of our lives. She goes out of her way to maintain the beauty of SCC, but it's her inward beauty that really shines brightest of all!

Confirmation of Degrees

To all members of the graduating class, as a gesture in recognition of having received your degree or certificate, would you please move your tassel to the left side of your cap. Congratulations!

Will the members of the graduating class please come forward for the presentation of diplomas and certificates.

Presentation of degrees

I want to express our sincere appreciation again to Hardy Rawls, our commencement speaker and distinguished alumni award winner; Dr. Barbara Entwistle, our marshal; the SCC symphonic band and Michael Butrico, conductor; Kami Mccutcheon, our Phi Beta Lambda representative; and Veranda Bell, who gave us a wonderful rendition of the national anthem.

I would also like to express my appreciation to all of you for participating in this most memorable evening

Now, I would like to invite all of the graduates, their families and guests to a reception in the Student Center immediately following the recessional.

Did you know?

Seminole Junior College was founded on July 1, 1965. The name was changed to Seminole Community College on July 1, 1975.