Date: 5/4/2016
Time: 7:00 PM

470 W Western Ave
Muskegon , MI 49440

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Event Description: Muskegon Community College’s 88th Commencement exercises will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 in the L.C. Walker Arena, where 239 graduating students will participate in the ceremony. The event is free and open to the public. The MCC student speakers delivering remarks on behalf of the Class of 2016 will be Justin Pelham and Ashley Engelman. Pelham, who was raised on a horse farm in Lake Odessa, MI, was seriously injured in 2006 by an improvised explosive device (IED) as an Army National Guard truck driver in Afghanistan. After his discharge, he and his young family moved to Ravenna, MI, where he became involved with coaching and announcing high school athletics. A Dean’s List student, he will earn an associate’s degree in broadcasting and plans to continue his multimedia studies at Grand Valley State University. Engelman, a Muskegon native, has had a lifelong passion to teach. At Reeths-Puffer High School, she participated in Children’s Theater, the Teacher Readiness Training Program and also pole vaulted, long jumped and bowled for the Rocket athletic teams. At MCC, the Dean’s List student was active helping to coordinate Student Life activities as a student worker in that office. She plans to pursue her education degree at Grand Valley State University. Surgeon and telemedicine trailblazer, Sarah N. Pletcher, M.D., a 1997 MCC graduate and the 2016 MCC Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient, will address the graduates. The Muskegon native is a faculty member at Dartmouth University’s prestigious Geisel School of Medicine, the fourth oldest medical school in the nation. She founded and established the Center for Telehealth and Connected Care for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system serving 19 million patients in New England. She also established the Center for Rural Emergency Services and Trauma, a network of 20 rural hospitals in New Hampshire and Vermont supporting emergency and trauma care. MCC President Dale K. Nesbary, Ph.D., will give introductory and closing remarks. The invocation will be provided by MCC Board of Trustee member Rev. Ann Oakes of the Tabernacle Church of God. Diana Osborn, Vice Chair of the MCC Board of Trustees, will offer the welcome. Pamela Brown, the former director of nursing at MCC who retired after 24 years of service to the college, will be the mace bearer leading the processional into the arena. Mike Lorey, who has taught welding at MCC the past four years, will be the mace bearer for the closing processional. Diana Osborn, Vice Chair of the MCC Board of Trustees, will confer the degrees. Director of Nursing Christina L. Donley will award the nursing pins. Kathleen Bates, the Faculty Association secretary, will announce the Faculty Association Scholarships. Kimberly A. Maguire, vice president of Patient Care Services at Mercy Health Partners, will announce the Hadden Award winners. Providing music will be the MCC Wind Ensemble directed by Daniel M. Meyers, the MCC College Singers and the Collegiates both directed by Thomas Clark, and the Muskegon Regional Pipes and Drums.


Directions:
L. C. Walker Arena

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