Heartland Community College Commencement to be held May 18th

 

[May 17, 2018]   NORMAL - Heartland Community College’s 26th annual commencement takes place Friday, May 18, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at the Grossinger Motors Arena at 101 S. Madison St. in downtown Bloomington.

The ceremony will recognize those graduating with associate degrees and certificates as well as students from the Heartland Academy for Learning Opportunities (HALO) and Adult Education program. Approximately 275 graduates are expected to participate.

Justin Boyd selected as 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

HCC alum Justin Boyd is the College’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and will be recognized at the commencement ceremony. Boyd is the tenth recipient of the annual award, which recognizes individual career achievements and positive community impact while exhibiting Heartland values.

Justin is a professional Financial Representative with COUNTRY Financial. Outside of his career Justin volunteers for local non-profits and community organizations such as Bloomington-Normal Sunrise Rotary, West Bloomington Revitalization Project, and The Salvation Army. He has also served on the board of directors for The McLean County Chamber of Commerce, The Beyond the Books Educational Foundation, and the Bloomington-Normal Chapter of N.A.I.F.A.

Justin was also selected as one of the “Twenty Under Forty” by The Pantagraph in 2015 and as “Next Professional of the Year” presented by the McLean County Chamber of Commerce in 2015.

Justin is actively involved in local government by serving as Chair of the Bloomington City Planning Commission and a former member of the Bloomington Downtown Task Force.

Abigail Jackson selected as student speaker

Heartland’s commencement will include student speaker Abigail Jackson.

Abigail is a Heartland Student Ambassador, “Spokes Student,” and serves as the Secretary of the HCC Phi Beta Lambda chapter. She grew up in Minier, and graduated from Olympia High.

Abigail has attended the Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership conference twice. She also presented a workshop at the Fall Leadership Conference on how to write a state-winning community service project paper and gave a national-placing presentation on the same topic.

She will be attending this year’s National Leadership Conference in Baltimore. After graduation, she is transferring to ISU to pursue a degree in Crop and Soil Science.

Ruth Mavinga will represent the Adult Education class of 2018

Ruth Mavinga is originally from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She started English as a Second Language at Heartland Community College in 2016. She recently completed the highest level of the Academic English Program and is studying in the Business Technology certificate program.

[Steve Fast
Associate Director of Public Information
Heartland Community College]