Modesto Junior College will hold its 88th Commencement Ceremony on Friday, April 30, 2010, at 6 p.m. in the College Stadium on the East Campus.  Good weather is expected and tickets are not needed for family and friends to attend the ceremony!  A reception for MJC graduates and their guests will be held following the graduation ceremony in the Student Center Rotunda. Both the ceremony and the reception are free and open to the public.  Campus parking is free and open to the public as well.  The Stadium gates will be open by 4 p.m. and guests are invited to arrive early.  Graduates are asked to report to the Gym at 5 p.m.

MJC will have awarded 1,131 Associate’s degrees to 995 individuals during the academic year of 2009-2010, (June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010), pending recipients’ successful completion of the spring semester. Approximately half of the graduates are expected to participate in MJC’s annual Commencement Ceremony.

The graduation program will feature the presentation of the 2010 MJC Distinguished Alumni Award to actor and Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner by Gary Watts, president of the MJC Foundation and Bryan Justin Marks, president of the Alumni Association. Music by the combined MJC Symphonic and Community Concert Bands, under the direction of Professor Erik Maki, will highlight the ceremony. Diplomas will be presented by Dr. Kenneth B. White, MJC interim president, Dr. Karen Walters Dunlap, vice president of instruction, Dr. Bob Nadell, vice president of student services and Yosemite Community College District (YCCD) Trustees, Anne DeMartini, Mike Riley and Abe Rojas, and YCCD chancellor, Dr. Roe Darnell.

The student speaker for commencement will be Pauline Rosado with a message entitled “Life in Song.” Rosado, a grandmother of seven grandchildren and a great grandchild, represents a growing number of senior citizens who are taking advantage of the opportunity to re-train or reactivate their lives through higher education. Rosado is currently serving as the Secretary for the Associated Students of Modesto Junior College (ASMJC) and as the Student Representative on the college’s Accreditation Institutional Effectiveness Committee.

MJC graduates and their family members are also invited to attend the annual Graduation Luncheon on Friday, April 30, at 12 noon in the Mary Stuart Rogers Student Learning Center on West Campus. All graduates who attend the luncheon will receive a class gift compliments of the Associated Students of Modesto Junior College (ASMJC). Tickets are $12 each and must be purchased in advance by Tuesday, April 27 at the Pirates’ Bookstore on East Campus.  (No tickets will be sold at the door!)

For more information on graduation events call MJC’s Student Development Office at 575-6700.