It's graduation day at Lambton College.
The 59th annual convocation ceremonies will be held at Progressive Auto Sales Arena on Tuesday, June 9.
Lambton College President and CEO Rob Kardas said they look forward to the special day every year.
"It's the most important day on our college calendar," said Kardas. "It's just a great day to celebrate with our graduates and their families as they walk across the stage and move into a different stage in their lives towards meaningful employment."
A total of 2,300 students are graduating from the Sarnia campus.
"That is less than last year due to the changes we are starting to see come through related to international education," said Kardas. "I think we had about 3,100 last year. Including our Ottawa campus, we have 2,800 graduates in total, but 2,300 here in Sarnia. The decline is expected, we've obviously known about the changes in international, which has been well documented in terms of the impact on enrolment."
Students in the Nursing, Health Science, Applied Science, Engineering, Technology and Trades and Fire Science programs will cross the stage at 10 a.m.
At 3 p.m., students in the Business and Sustainability Leadership, Community Services, IT, Liberal Studies and Flexible Education programs will get their diplomas.
Around 1,600 graduates are expected to attend the two ceremonies, which will also include two special guest speakers.
"The morning ceremony, our speaker will be Scott Brown, who is the coordinator of our Fire Science Technology Program," said Kardas. "And in the afternoon ceremony, our speaker is Myles Vanni, a longtime community leader and retired executive director at the Inn of the Good Shepherd."
Kardas said Vanni will also be recognized during the graduation ceremony and will be given an honorary Social Service Worker diploma for all his great work.
"Myles' work obviously speaks for itself and he's been a longtime partner of the college in so many ways, working with us on our own student food bank to providing great placements to students. Myles has just been a great partner of the college and again his work in the community, that longtime community leader and advocate really speaks for itself."
Other awards will be handed out during this year's ceremonies.
The Alumni Leadership Award will be given to Jaya Mahajan in the Interprofessional Practice-Gerontology Program. This recognizes students who exhibit leadership abilities, commitment, are involved in extracurricular activities, and contributes to the college and the community.
April Michah Esteron will be presented with the Board of Governors Award for demonstrating academic achievement and being involved in extra-curricular and leadership activities and contributing to the college and the community.
You can also watch the ceremonies online through the college's website.
