Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Volume 38, Issue 14


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Volume 38, Issue 14.
May 8, 2001

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Graduation ceremonies seem to be passe´ for most at MCC

BY EMILY TICE
MESA LEGEND
Submitted May 8, 2001

As the end of another school year draws near, some students prepare to bid farewell to their years at MCC.

On May 18, MCC will hold its 2001 graduation ceremony to honor students who will be receiving their associate’s degrees.

However, the ceremony will not be including many of the graduates, according to Monica Margaillan, MCC graduation technician.

Margaillan says that even though over 1,400 students have applied for graduation over the course of the 2000-2001 school year, only about 15 percent will actually take part in the ceremony.

"So far 380 people have paid for graduation, but only 150 have sent in their RSVP," said Margaillan. "I expect that around 200 students will actually participate."

Graduating students will receive one of three associate’s degrees: Applied Arts, Applied Science and General Studies.

However, some students are choosing to forgo the associate’s degree all together, instead heading straight to a four-year bachelor’s program.

MCC sophomore, Mark Hitt, says that after two years at MCC he plans to enroll at ASU this fall.

"I never really came to MCC with the intention of getting a two-year degree," said Hitt. "Because I am a business major, many of the classes I need to graduate from MCC won’t transfer to ASU."

"I figured I would just take my general education classes at MCC and then I would take my upper division classes over at ASU."

MCC traditionally holds one ceremony for all graduates; however, the nursing department and the mortuary science department both hold special ceremonies for their students.

The nursing department will hold its invitation only "Pinning Ceremony" taking place on May17 in the Theatre Outback, according to Debbie Bitter, Nursing Faculty.

"We have 48 students graduating this year and we hold this special ceremony to give our students their nursing pins," said Bitter. "Two of our graduates, Belinda Farrell and Steve Jones, have been chosen to speak at the ceremony."

Speaking at the campus wide commencement will be

valedictorian Rosa Metzer, according to Margaillan.

The mortuary science department will see its fifth class of graduates move on this May 17, according to Donna Backhaus, Clinical Coordinator for the mortuary science department.

"We are graduating 14 students, which is a little less than the graduating class of the previous year, which had 22 students," said Backhaus.

The campus-wide graduation ceremony on May 18 will begin at 8pm on the grassy area in front of the Kirk Center.