May 26, 2011

 

Preparations are in full swing for next Friday’ s convocation at Medicine Hat College.

A total of 538 students will graduate from certificate, diploma and applied degree programs, with another 118 apprentice students completing studies at MHC this spring. Approximately 376 of these students plan to attend convocation, and will cross the podium in two separate ceremonies on Friday, June 3. The 10:00 a.m. ceremony will see grads from the divisions of adult development, arts and science, as well as the department of trades. The 2:00 p.m. ceremony will honour graduates from the divisions of business and health studies. The ceremonies will take place in the MHC gymnasium.

Several awards will be handed out at the ceremonies, including the prestigious Honorary Applied Baccalaureate Degree, Student of the Year, Instructor of the Year, and the Governor General’ s Academic Medal.

The 2011 Honorary Applied Baccalaureate Degree will be presented to Dr. Richard and Deborah Northcott, founders of Canadian Humanitarian . The Northcotts have worked since 1995 to assist children and their families break free from the cycle of poverty in Ethiopia. What began as a local Medicine Hat organization has expanded to ten chapters across Canada, assisting thousands of Ethiopian families each year.

The MHC Student of the Year award will be presented to Derek Rafa, who is graduating with a power engineering technology diploma. His high academic marks, positive attitude, leadership, and excellent working relationship with instructors and student counterparts all have contributed to his Student of the Year award.

Lori Sumners has been named MHC’s Instructor of the Year. She is an instructor of kinesiology and is hailed by her students as " willing to go above and beyond. "

The Governor General’ s Academic Medal was created in 1873 to encourage academic excellence across the nation. It is awarded to the student who receives the highest overall average upon graduation from a diploma level program. This year ’ s MHC recipient is Richard Hobson, who is graduating with a diploma in Information Technology/ Software and Internet Development. Richard is now employed by Accessible Accessories as a web application developer, a direct result of the co-op position he acquired with them last summer.

The college will once again host distinguished guests from the city and province at the ceremony. Additionally, faculty members will form a gauntlet to honour the graduates as they cross Centennial Hall to enter the gymnasium. For more information on MHC’ s graduation ceremonies, visit www.mhc.ab.ca . The ceremony can also be viewed on a live web stream for the first time ever. The web link for the live stream will be available on the MHC website.