Heartland Community College Commencement set for May 17

 

[May 06, 2019]    Heartland Community College’s 27th annual commencement takes place Friday, May 17, 2019 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 programs. Approximately 225 graduates are expected to participate.

Chris Marx selected as 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

HCC alum Chris Marx is the College’s 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and will be recognized at the commencement ceremony. Marx is the eleventh recipient of the annual award, which recognizes individual career achievements and positive community impact while exhibiting Heartland values.

Chris is owner of Redbird Plumbing, a regular fixture on the consumer review service Angie’s List and winner of several Pantagraph Reader’s Choice awards. He pursued an Associate of Arts degree from Heartland and he attributes the College to helping him find this path after high school.

In 2014, Chris received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Illinois State University, where he transferred from Heartland to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Management. He and his wife Lisa have three children: Tori, Taylor and Tyler.

Grace Golick selected as student speaker

Heartland’s commencement will include student speaker Grace Golick.

Grace is President of Heartland’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. She has also been involved in student government, the Heartland Dance Team and served as a College tutor.

After graduation, she plans to transfer to Illinois State University to major in Nursing and Spanish.

Jonathon Muyembe will represent the Adult Education class of 2019

Jonathon Muyembe is originally from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He started English as a Second Language classes at Heartland Community College in 2017. He recently completed the highest level of the Academic English Program and plans to study biology at Heartland in order to become a parasitologist in the future. He lives in Normal with his parents, two brothers, and one sister.

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