St. Charles Mayor Sally Faith to Address Graduates at 24th Commencement of St. Charles Community College

Published: 05/04/2012

More than 735 students are eligible to graduate, including students who meet the completion requirements for certificates or degrees as of last December or for March, May and August of this year, according to Kathy Brockgreitens-Gober, dean of enrollment services.

At least 84 candidates will receive the Associate of Applied Science degree, at least 90 will receive the Associate of Science degree, another 46 will receive the Certificate of Achievement, 466 will receive the Associate of Arts degree, and 51 will receive the Associate of Arts in Teaching degree. Others who are finishing up requirements as of this summer were also eligible to apply for spring commencement, Brockgreitens-Gober said.

More than 200 graduates will receive the “honors,” “high honors,” or “highest honors” distinction, and many of them are members of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society of community colleges.

The sixth annual Distinguished Alumni Award will be presented to Lt. Cmdr. Tina M. Cox, MSN, MSM, CNS-BC, RNC, of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, who currently resides in Highland Park, Ill. She is the division officer for the immunization and administration clinics for recruit training at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Brenda Lowder, president of the SCC Foundation Board and broker/associate with NAI DESCO, will present the award.

The student speaker will be Jill Browder, of St. Peters, an Associate of Arts degree graduate with a 4.0 grade point average. Browder is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Missouri Baptist University and hopes to continue on to a master’s degree in counseling. Browder is married to a firefighter and has one daughter who is a first grade teacher.

Darren Osburn, SCC associate professor of speech and communication and faculty member of the year, will serve as the commencement marshal.

This year’s commencement speaker, St. Charles Mayor Sally Faith, was one of SCC’s first Board of Trustees members, serving from 1986 to 1995, and was the director of development for the SCC Foundation from 1997 to 2005. She established a scholarship at SCC in 2003, the Florence Killian Memorial Scholarship, in memory of her mother, and currently is an emeritus member of the SCC Foundation Board.

Faith was sworn in as the mayor of the City of St. Charles on Tuesday, April 19, 2011. She previously was elected to represent St. Charles County (District 15) in the Missouri House of Representatives for four terms. Faith is a member of the St. Charles Transit Authority, Athena Leadership Foundation, the Rotary Club of St. Charles and the Greater St. Charles County Chamber of Commerce. She also has served on the Board of Directors of Bridgeway, Focus St. Louis, Connections to Success, Habitat for Humanity, the New Frontier Bank and the Foundry Art Centre. A graduate of Lee Academy High School, Faith attended St. Charles Community College, Maryville Weekend College, Lindenwood University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. For more about Faith, visit the City of St. Charles website.

Established in 1986, St. Charles Community College is celebrating 25 years as a public, comprehensive two-year community college with associate degrees and certificate programs in the arts, business, sciences and career-technical fields. SCC provides workforce training and community-based personal and professional development as well as cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities. For more information, visit www.stchas.edu.