Programs at U.S. Cellular Center mark Kirkwood GED/high school and college graduations
More than 2,600 students will be given degrees, diplomas and certificates this week from Kirkwood Community College in two separate ceremonies at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.
Graduates of Kirkwood’s college programs will be recognized at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, May 16. Those 2,052 students represent 83 counties in Iowa, 18 different states and 34 different countries. Sixty-eight students will be earning multiple awards. The ages of college credit grads this year ranges from a 17-year-old earning a Carpentry diploma, to a 59-year-old woman receiving an associate degree in Liberal Arts.
Speakers at the ceremonies will include Kirkwood Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Lois Bartelme; John Dawson, president-elect of the Kirkwood Faculty Association; and Kirkwood President Mick Starcevich. Also addressing the graduates is Michael Abdalah, a visiting scholar from Egypt and member of the Kirkwood Student Senate.
In addition to its college programs, approximately 560 students who have completed Kirkwood’s GED and High School Diploma programs will be recognized in a ceremony Friday night, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. This number has risen significantly from last year as an increasing number of people are attempting to improve their education as they seek employment. About 100 graduates are expected to participate in the ceremony.
Kirkwood President Mick Starcevich and Executive Director of Secondary Programs David Bunting will speak at Friday night’s ceremony along with two recent Kirkwood graduates. They are Chantell Caudill, who earned her Kirkwood Adult High School Diploma last fall and is now a Kirkwood Community College student studying Human Services; and Ron Pearson, a Kirkwood GED graduate who learned the value of a high school diploma when he struggled to find work locally.
This is the forty-third graduation week for Kirkwood Community College. In its founding year, 1966-67, the college had just 199 credit students enrolled in classes.