HVCC students graduate during virtual ceremony
TROY, N.Y. » A total of 1,790 graduates from Hudson Valley Community College were honored this past weekend during a virtual commencement ceremony.
Because of social distancing restrictions related to COVID-19, Hudson Valley Community College replaced its 66th annual commencement ceremony with an online celebration of the Class of 2020.
The virtual event was streamed online on Saturday.
American Idol finalist Madison VanDenburg, who attended the college in 2019, sUng “The Star Spangled Banner” to open the celebration, as well as perform at the close of the event. Profiles of graduates and greetings from faculty and staff was interspersed throughout the program. The student choir also performed.
The graduates heard from HVCC President Roger Ramsammy, United States Senator Charles Schumer; Neil Kelleher, Board of Trustees chairman; WTEN News Anchor John Gray ‘ 83; Student Senate President Zion Sherin ‘20, and Professor Jeff Schoonmaker, who retired in May 2020 after 51 years of teaching physics at Hudson Valley. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Michael Stammel, chairman of the county legislature, also spoke.
The program also included a ceremonial conferral of degrees by Ramsammy and Judith DiLorenzo, vice president for Academic Affairs.
This year’s graduating class had 397 students graduate with academic honors and 157 members of Phi Theta Kappa.
The Class of 2020 includes students from 43 different foreign countries (Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma,
China, Congo, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guyana, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam).
Many graduates were from the Capital Region with a total of 1,476. Of that, 597 students were from Albany County and 464 students from Rensselaer County. A total of 259 students were from Saratoga County and 173 were from Schenectady County.
There are 60 graduates who either self-identified as being a member of the military on the admissions application or are veterans using education benefits. There are 17 students (28% of the veterans graduating this year) who are identified as graduating with honors.
The oldest graduate was Christine Martinec Vlahides, 64, Construction TechnologyBuilding Construction A. A. S. while the youngest was William Gannon, 17, Engineering Science A. S.
College officials said graduates from the Class of 2020 will be invited to Hudson Valley’s 2021 commencement ceremony next May, as long as circumstances allow.