Here’s what to know about Mesa Community College’s 60th anniversary graduation ceremony
Several thousand degrees and certificates will be awarded to MCC’s graduating class of 2025 Friday evening, among them the institution’s first-ever recipients of a bachelor’s degree from the college.
Over 550 of the nearly 4,000 graduating students will participate and walk the stage in tomorrow’s ceremony at the Desert Financial Arena, according to a press release from the college. Of those students, 15 will receive a Bachelor of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education—Dual Language degree during Mesa Community College’s 60th anniversary graduation later this week, and they will be the first to cross the stage.
Students in the bachelor’s degree program include a range of those who graduated with an associate’s degree and certificates in the field before the program began, and those who participated in the East Valley Institute of Technology program, MCC’s partnership with high schools, according to Jamie Lopez, an Early Childhood Education faculty member at MCC.
“I think we might have at least one [student] that’s even a little bit older than Annapurna and I, or at least the same age. That has really been a beautiful thing because they’ll make these comments of ‘I didn’t even think that I was ever going to be able to accomplish this,’” Lopez said. “We have some that they have children who have earned their bachelor’s degrees in the last several years, and now they are earning theirs. It’s really just a beautiful thing to see that.”
Annapurna Ganesh, another Early Childhood Education faculty member at MCC, explained her enthusiasm for her students graduating with their first-ever bachelor’s degree.
Ganesh said she believes that the children are the future of our society and that by helping people gain bachelor’s degrees in the Early Childhood Education field, the college will be helping give a voice to the littlest of people.
“Mesa Community is a very vibrant college, and we have a legacy of serving our community,” Ganesh said. “To have this opportunity to offer a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, we have to remember this is not a very high-paying area, but it is an acknowledgement of the youngest children and their families, who are the members of a society.”
Ganesh explained that to award the first bachelor’s degrees at MCC, during their 60th anniversary and in Early Childhood Education—Dual Language, was “beyond” to her.
“We’ve always responded to the community. We will continue to do so. That’s the message that’s become loud and clear,” Ganesh exclaimed.
The event’s program will feature several guest speakers, among them graduates, college and district administration and guest keynote speaker Lorena Austin, a Democratic representative in the Arizona State Legislature representing the Southern and Dobson campus’s district.
Austin, a MCC alumnus who uses the pronoun they, was originally scheduled to be the keynote speaker prior to then-First Lady Jill Biden last year, according to the college’s graduation tri-chair Marcy Snitzer.
The graduates who receive recognition based on their GPA will graduate either with distinction, high distinction or highest distinction, unlike many colleges’ usage of the Latin honors system, according to Snitzer.
“We don’t have, in the ceremony, a different structure for how they come up to the platform, but we do acknowledge people with different GPA levels,” Snitzer said. “They are issued different colored cords that they wear as part of their regalia that designates their level of distinction.”
Snitzer also clarified that the acknowledgement of the college’s 60th anniversary will be incorporated into the college’s president Richard Daniel’s speech at the ceremony.
The two students speaking at graduation will be Riley Weathersbee, the class honors speaker, and Luke “Tagg” Hagen, speaking on behalf of the ASMCC Student Government.
As class honors speaker, Weathersbee auditioned among nine other graduating students who demonstrated campus involvement and having a GPA over 3.7. Her speech will relate to the theme of students creating their legacy of excellence.
Hagen, the outgoing ASMCC Vice President of Communications, plans to speak about the legacy of the student government over the past 60 years, as well as the probable future impact of the 2025 class.
Snitzer remarked on the importance of the educational milestone for both the students and the institution.
“We are here for students, and this is the ultimate celebration of student success,” Snitzer said. “To me, it’s one of the high points of the year that we gather to acknowledge all of the hard work and what students have done to complete their degrees and certificates.”
Weathersbee and Hagen wrote the other’s section as to uphold journalistic integrity.
