Commencement ceremonies at Shoreline Community College emphasize community and perseverance

Graduates pour out of the gym after the ceremony
Photo courtesy SCC

Community and perseverance were the themes at the Shoreline Community College Commencement for the Class 2013.

By Jim Hills

Comments by the speakers at the June 9 event - student William C. Holmes III, faculty member Mimi Harvey and State Rep. Cyrus Habib – all focused on the idea that when personal strength is combined with societal support, great things can happen for both the individual and community.

Grads check out their photos after the ceremony
Photo courtesy SCC

Holmes said he was a high school dropout who re-engaged through the Career Education Options program. He went on to lead the college’s DECA team that recently returned from an award-winning effort at the national and international competition for business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Holmes emphasized that his accomplishments came with the help and support of many.

Paige Grossman of Shoreline will transfer to WSU this fall.
Like many SCC students, she worked part to full-time
while carrying a full course load.
Photo by Kevin Grossman

Harvey, who teaches Communications Studies, focused on the concept of community, but then asked the soon-to-be-graduates and audience to make that concept a reality. “Look around you, really, look around,” Harvey implored. “This is community, this is coming together.”

Habib’s own story is inspirational on its own. The 31-year-old legislator from Kirkland was blinded by cancer by age 8. He went on to become a Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar and graduate of Columbia University (Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa), Oxford University and Yale Law School where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Read the rest of Jim Hill's story and see more photos