Cañada College to Honor More than 850 Graduates at Annual Commencement Ceremony

The ceremony will be held Saturday, May 26 at 10 a.m. in the upper quad.

Cañada College will recognize the academic achievement of more than 700 graduates at its annual commencement ceremony to be held on Saturday, May 26 at 10 a.m.

This year’s commencement speaker is former Cañada College President Thomas Mohr, who retired last year after serving as president for five years. During his tenure at Cañada, Mohr helped guide the college and the San Mateo County Community College District through an exhaustive strategic planning process. He worked to integrate the college with the local high schools and strengthen Cañada’s transfer programs. As part of this process, the school developed a successful Honors Transfer Program; strengthened its University Center by adding additional university partners; and added full-time faculty focused on transfer-level curriculum.

The college will honor Katya Kurganova as this year’s valedictorian. She is a Russian immigrant who learned English at Cañada and is graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA and has been accepted to UC Berkeley where she will business administration.

Oceanside’s Marty Martinez will be the ceremony’s student speaker. Marty is a biology major who has a passion for understanding the natural world and teaching it to others. He wants to pursue a career as a research professor. Marty is a first-generation college student. He is the founding president of the Science Outreach Club, a past member of Phi Theta Kappa, founding president of the EOPS Club, and received the biophotonics Winter Internship at UC Davis this past year.

The recipient of this year’s President’s Student Leadership Award is Tristan Sheldon. This award is given annually by the President to a graduating student who has displayed extraordinary leadership traits. The President chooses the recipient from nominees forwarded by the college faculty and staff. Tristan has been active in Phi Theta Kappa, Cañada’s honor society; student government; and he has represented students on many shared governance committees on campus.

For more information about this year’s Commencement Ceremony go to Commencement 2012.