College of the Canyons graduates 1,153 Friday night, May 20

        SANTA CLARITA – The 2005 graduating class at College of the Canyons will celebrate commencement at 6 p.m. Friday, May 20, 2005. One thousand, one hundred fifty three students have applied for graduation. This is a 15.6 percent increase over last year.  The class consists of 672 women and 481 men.  They will assemble in the central-campus, outdoor Honor-Grove location that has become the traditional site of the graduation ceremony. 
        This year’s class will receive associate of arts or associate of science degrees reflecting their accomplishments in 42 academic majors.  The average age of the class is 25.5 years, nearly identical to last year’s average age of 26.  There are four graduates at 17 years of age, and the eldest graduate is 68.

        Thirty international students representing six countries will receive degrees this year.  Sixty-nine students are graduating from the popular Progressive Adult College Education (PACE) program.  The Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSP&S) program will graduate 49 students, and there are 53 students receiving degrees who participated in the Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS) program.

        The graduating class grade point average (GPA) is 3.01. Sixteen students are raduating as valedictorians, having posted perfect 4.0 GPAs during their studies at the college.  The number of honors graduates (those graduating with GPAs of 3.5 or above) is 220.

        Michael Calvo (Social Science major) and Melissa Parsons (Nursing major) will be the featured student speakers.

        The subject area with the highest number of graduates is Transfer Studies with 407 graduates.  There are 108 Social Science graduates, and the Accounting program will graduate 108.  The COC Nursing program will have 66 RN/LVN graduates. Ethnic minorities comprise 36.2 percent of the graduating class.