SPSCC Commencement

More than 1,450 graduates from over 50 degree and certificate programs will turn their tassels at South Puget Sound Community College on Friday evening.  The College will hold its 51st commencement ceremony on June 17 at 6 p.m. on the Olympia Campus soccer field.

Graduates will gather with family, friends, faculty, and members of the community to celebrate the achievements each graduate has made while at SPSCC.  This year, the College will award 1,777 degrees and certificates to the passionate and diverse graduating class.  The average GPA of students graduating is 3.01 and 94% are residents of Thurston County.

This year’s faculty address will be delivered by Automotive Professor Norm Chapman and the student speaker for the event will be Bryan Barnett.

Barnett, a Running Start student attending Timberline High School, is a proven leader both on campus and in the community.  Since enrolling at SPSCC in Winter Quarter 2015, Barnett has balanced a full-time course load, co-created and led the Black Student Union at SPSCC, and is the 2016 recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship from Thurston Group.  He will receive his Associate of Arts degree on Friday and will begin at the University of Washington this fall, where he plans to pursue a career path in medicine.

The commencement ceremony will honor historic academic pageantry and traditions of the Middle Ages, including a bagpipe processional by Olympia Highlanders Pipes and Drums and characteristic academic regalia–the cap, gown, and hood.