The best part of every Onondaga Community College commencement ceremony is watching the diversity of the students who cross the stage to receive their degrees. Some are just a couple of years removed from high school, others are in their 30s or 40s, and some are closer to retirement than their high school years.
Such was the case Thursday night when Onondaga Community College held a graduation ceremony in the SRC Arena for members of its December class of 2021. Nearly 300 students were eligible to participate in the ceremony. One of those who put on her cap and gown and proudly walked across the stage was Kim Benton, a 55-year-old mother of two who earned her Business Technology degree. Benton decided to pursue her college degree after going through a divorce. While working as many as three jobs at once to make ends meet, she knew higher education could be her ticket to a career.
Five years ago she began taking classes in OCC's Health Information Technology program but realized it wasn't exactly what she was looking for. That's when her advisor, Steve White, recommended she take a career test. Her results indicated she was good working with numbers, and she wound up in Business Technology.
Her years of hard work paid off last month when she was welcomed into the College's chapter of honor society Phi Theta Kappa. And now she has her degree and a job as a Senior Account Clerk in the Department of Social Services.
Her advice to any "older" students considering college? "You can do it. You just need a strong support system around you who will constantly encourage you and help you with life when you need it."
Below is a list of our December class of 2021. Congratulations to each of you!
School of Art, Design, Media & Music
- Autumn Baker
- Louis Dorazio
- Taylor Finch
- Stephanie Gill
- Ryan Gilmore
- Eli Grauman
- Jalyn Handford
- Christopher Holmes
- Clara Neville
- Dahlia Nguyen
- Kathryn Patrick
- Kevin Pham
- Anthony Quinn
- Barbadu Raacha
- Bertel Schmidt
- Mikayla Togni
School of Business
- Hisham Ali
- Jacob Bano
- Kimberly Benton
- David Bosak
- Jourdyn Buck
- Rebecca Buff
- Phillip Carrigan
- Ashley Carson
- Michael Casale
- Zachary Caswell
- Brianna Cico
- Jack Davis
- Jasmine Downs
- Brian Felix
- Jennie Harrington
- Jeffrey Hart
- Nancy Ho
- Joshua Jones
- Grace Kim
- Ashley Lippert
- Liem Nguyen
- Brandon O'Brien
- Patrick Peris
- Ryan Procopio
- Susan Rogers
- Rebecca Ruhland
- Martim Silva
- Alexis Streiff
- Ali Thabet
- Sarah Wallace
- Dakota Williams
School of Computing & Applied Technologies
- Naseer Abdulwahhab
- Abdullah Alaawad
- Abdirahman Ali
- Sahar Almahmoud
- Fahmi Amuaimi
- Theodore Bartlett
- Hope Blanchard
- Noah Capella
- Dominic Coombs
- Kahlil Davis
- Keith Dimura
- Jesse Dreibelbis
- Moo Eh
- Matthew Faiola
- Miguel Jose Amado Fernandes
- Avenezer Fitwi
- Caleb Flynn
- Dominic French
- Sabrina Garnett
- Timothy Ginochetti
- Dimitar Gjorgievski
- Nazier Gunn
- Matthew Healey
- Dennis Hua
- Jacob Hughes
- Dillon LaBarge
- Brandon Lapointe
- Vincent Leone
- Takwa Maklad
- Terrell McLaughlin
- Rocco Myers
- Suleiman Ali Nur
- Elijah Onufriychuk
- Christopher Perdue
- Tayvon Ratchford
- Michael Raymond
- Michael Riehl
- Brian Rowley
- Apriah Scruggs-Muhammad
- Cassandra Stanfield
- Hamdija Suljic
- Matthew Taddeo
- Patrick Watzka
- Abdiaziz Yusuf
School of Education
- Laura Avery
- Charquyasia Boutwell
- Roxanne Bowles
- Mary Clewis
- Madalynn Davis
- Muzhgan Dost
- Jan Gilman
- Trinidi Golden
- Victoria Hagan
- Hakima Haji
- Nicole Hare
- Samantha Harvey
- Tiffany Morey
- Melissa Mosher
- Garrett Radley
- Teyara Reese
- Kyle Simons
- Keith Spurgeon
- Sarah Waters
- Angela Wilbur
School of Health
- Isaiah Addison
- Aaron Andrukat
- Camisha Bacon
- Heather Barber
- Amber Bishop
- Alyssa Brown
- Brandy Burnham
- Daphne Edgar
- Jillian Firenze
- Mary Chu For
- Alyssa Froio
- Brianna Hawks
- Skylar Hidenrite
- Shayla Holt
- Mirsada Hurtic
- Tiffani Irovando
- Brandon Irving
- Carmiel Kapilla
- Josephine Koroma
- Trang La
- Liliana Lori-Matos
- Ryan Luke
- Tony Ly
- Grace Mabi
- Madison Mahoney
- Kaylee Marshall
- Morgan Michlovitch
- Tracey Milazzo
- Asma Mohamed
- Jonathan Morsdorf
- Kayla Nero
- Brandy Parks
- Valerie Phillips
- Laurent Quetell
- Heather Richards
- Paul Savich
- Cynthia Schrank
- Lindsay Stonecipher
- Joseph Stout
- Roman Tataryn
- Dejanaire Taylor
- Ashley Tifft
- Niokey Williams
- Carl VanBuren
School of Liberal Arts
- Yara Aldwas
- Dima Amiri
- Taxiarchos Avramidis
- Erica Bagozzi
- Dominick Barbuto III
- Hannah Betters
- Madeline Bova
- Kylie Bryant
- Gregory Buckley
- Kaleib Burris
- Kiara Bush
- Matthew Cabiles
- Brandon Cancro
- Armand-Julien Clausen
- Christian Comer
- Emily Dowd
- Ahmed Durrani
- Sean Egan
- Kimberly Farrell
- Joshua Florczyk
- Michelle Footman
- David Ford
- Julie Fortino
- Madelinn Fowler
- Emily Gamble
- Kaitlyn Gary
- Yana Grebenevich
- Ellen Harwood
- John Haskell
- Victoria Hernandez
- Julie Horn
- Jenna Jacobs
- Kayla Jones
- Irumva Kabayiza
- Ryan Kreuzer
- Ashton Lenze
- Joseph Logiudice
- Alanson Loomis
- Margaret Maal
- Abdinajib Maalo
- Megan Mann
- Kelsey Martinez
- Erik Mattox Jr.
- Brendan Mavretish
- Emily McChesney
- Gregory McGrath
- Gianna Migliaccio
- Tayana Mitchell
- Elizabeth Morrow
- William Neuman
- Mckenzie O'Hara
- Say Wah Pah
- Arielle Patterson
- Joshua Phelan
- Asmita Rai
- Joshua Roberts
- Zoey Rogers-Romeo
- Khedija Saad
- Yousif Saaed
- Nylashia Sease
- Mike Sicherman
- Katlyn Skellington
- Anabella Snyder
- Alexie Sullivan
- Zachary Tulowiecki
- Alisa Vainblat
- Joshua Vang
- Antonia Vilardo
- Raegen White
- Mario Williams
- Preston Wrobleski
- Jordan Zagha
School of Math, Science & Engineering
- Khrystyna Andrushkiv
- Nidaa Arab
- Suljo Begovic
- Rehan Din
- Thao Ho
- Bryan Marchand
- Andy Dominguez Murgado
- Evangeline Ndaca
- Lam Thanh Thanh Nguyen
- Yesha Patel
- Janny Perez
- Emily Sickler
- Brooke Sledgianowski
- Allen Smith
- Kyle Smith
- Shane Smith
- Marcus Tingley
- Andrew Waldon
- Christopher Wells
- Adrian Wilson
School of Public Safety & Community Service
- Maryam Alowaid
- Henry Alva
- Jeneis Barr
- Thomas Barrack
- Isabel Black
- Lucille Blume
- Jaliyah Broome
- Audrey Brown
- Kathleen Byrne
- Alexandra Cardona-Morales
- Ramona Clark
- Jasmine Guerin-Carmona
- Abaigeal Daley
- Katrina Dean
- Abbey Doerger
- Teajia Dowdell
- Corey Guyder
- Abeba Haley
- Andrew Hauswirth
- Lauren Hopkins
- Amy Johnson
- Kristin Kadajji
- Nikki Kerr
- Jadon Linton-Donerlson
- Tara Matthie
- Kawennase McComber-Lybrand
- Renisha McDonald
- Nasier McIntyre
- Bryanna McRobbie
- Tina Moser
- Hunter Murray
- Firdaus Nabwanja
- Habiba Noor
- Michele Parks
- Lauren Phillips
- Carly Polge
- Chelsea Roden
- Ashleigh Roe
- Courtney Schaefer
- Crystal Silkworth
- Kendra Slating
- James Tagggart
- Joshua Tolenoa
- Jacob VanPatten
- Ashley Zogg
