SYLVA - Commencement at Southwestern Community College will allow guests a little more elbow room this spring.

Due to an increase in the number of graduates, College officials have opted to host two commencement ceremonies, allowing graduates and their families to have a more enjoyable and meaningful experience.

"We have literally outgrown our auditorium," said Connie Haire, vice president of student and institutional development at SCC. "Our graduates have worked hard for this achievement and they want to share it with their family and close friends. In order for them to be able to do that, we chose to go to two ceremonies."

Due to increases in commencement participants, College administration was confronted with the problem every college wants to have-outgrowing their facilities. Faced with having to limit the number of guests each graduate could invite, administration opted to poll prospective graduates to see if they would rather have one ceremony with limited guests or two ceremonies split by academic division. Overwhelmingly, the students chose to divide and conquer.

The Career Technologies division and the nursing program will graduate at 7 p.m. on May 7 and the Health Sciences and Arts and Sciences divisions will graduate at 11 a.m. on May 8. Both ceremonies will be held in Myers' Auditorium on SCC's Jackson Campus.

"We will also be honoring our graduates with a video tribute rather than having a guest speaker. This will allow us to highlight their educational and social experiences over their past two years at Southwestern, making commencement a much more personal experience."

For additional information on commencement at Southwestern Community College, call Melissa Pendergast, SCC's Public Information Officer at 586-4091 or (800) 447-4091, Ext. 265 or Haire at Ext. 227.

See list of Academic Divisions

Back to News Index