46th commencement exercises at Rock Valley College May 18

Posted: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Media Contact: Dave Costello, 815-921-4516

Rock Valley College will graduate 1,235 students this spring, and a record number 400 of them will participate in RVC’s 46th annual commencement exercises on Friday, May 18, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. in the Physical Education Center (PEC) on the main campus at 3301 North Mulford Road, Rockford.

Speakers for this year’s ceremony include RVC 2012 Faculty of the Year, RVC Professor of Economics, Dr. Michael Youngblood, and graduating student speaker, Kendall Ferguson.

Dr. Youngblood was honored as the 24th recipient of the RVC Faculty of the Year award in a special ceremony back in April. As a former community college student himself, Youngblood truly believes that community colleges can change people’s lives. He credits his community college experience for introducing him to topics and ideas that he had never known existed and for proving to him that he was capable of doing college level work. Each day he strives to pass those same experiences on to his students.

Kendall Ferguson was nominated for the honor of student speaker by her supervisor at RVC where she served as a student worker this year. She was selected by the student speaker committee to give this year’s student address. Ferguson is a graduate of Rockford Lutheran High School, served as Vice President of Student Affairs for RVC’s Student Government Association, and was a member of the RVC Honors Program and the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall where she will major in history with a minor in Chinese. She plans to later earn her Master’s degree so she can become a college professor.

Media Advisory: Reporters/photographers/videographers covering the RVC commencement are advised that venue access will be restricted when the graduation ceremony begins at 6:00 p.m.  If you wish to interview students or college personnel, we request you attend the pre-ceremony reception beginning at 4:00 p.m. in the Student Center atrium (adjacent to the Physical Education Center). Interviews can also be conducted after the ceremony. Video and still photographers will be allowed to take pictures from around the PEC prior to the ceremony. However, when commencement begins, all picture-taking will be restricted to a designated "photo area" and this policy will be strictly enforced. 
 

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