CLC to Hold Class of 2012 Graduation

When the College of Lake County holds its 43rd Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 12, the Class of 2012 participants will include Grace Duval, 14, of Mundelein, the second-youngest ever recipient of a CLC Associate in Arts degree. (The youngest grad was nine days shy of being 14 in 2000.)

The Commencement Ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee Street, Waukegan. About 393 of the 1,826 graduates in the Class of 2012 are expected to participate. 

Duval is a formerly home-schooled student who started taking classes at CLC in 2009 at age 11. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the academic honor society for community colleges, and will graduate with highest honors. She plans to transfer to University of Illinois at Chicago in the fall with junior standing, where she will study classics and French. Her ultimate goals are to get a doctorate in classical studies and become a college professor. Her dream is to host a program on the History Channel about ancient Greeks and Romans.

Duval said that her age has not been a problem at CLC. “The only person I’ve met younger than me at CLC is my 12-year-old sister, who started taking classes this year,” she said. “I’ve never had a bad professor or a bad experience. I’ve enjoyed all my experiences. I love to read and I love history, languages, psychology, sociology and the sciences,” she said. Duval has four younger siblings (all of them have been or are being home schooled).

CLC Class of 2012 statistics and demographics

The 1,826 graduates in the Class of 2012 earned a total of 2,213 degrees and certificates. The class is 59 percent female and 40 percent male.

Members of the class of 2012 reside in 94 different towns. The communities with the most representation are Waukegan (223), Grayslake (126), Gurnee (125), Mundelein (113), Lake Villa (103), Zion (91), Antioch (86), Round Lake Beach (74), Lindenhurst (70), Round Lake (66), and Beach Park (54).

Degree or certificate type                            Number          Percentage of total

Associate in Arts degrees                                    736                  33

Associate in Applied Science                               473                   21

Associate in Science                                           156                    7

Associate in Engineering Science                           16                    1

Associate in Fine Arts in Art                                    1                    0

Career certificates of 30-plus credit hours:           189                    9

Career certificates of under 30 credit hours:         642                  29

Age      Number of Grads       Percentage:

18-24:             798                  44

25 to 34           450                  25

35 to 44           253                  14

45 to 54:          236                  13

55 to 64:           82                    4

65+:                  6                     0

Members of the class range in age from Duval at age 14 to Merry Jenison, age 70. Jenison, of Fox Lake, will receive two certificates from the Administrative Office Systems program: Office Professional and Administrative Assistant. After being laid off from a manufacturing position several years ago, Jenison began taking courses to update her office technology skills. “I need to work, but I don’t want to sit back and give up,” she said.

Jenison has worked a large variety of jobs, including clerical positions in an insurance office, child care provider, real estate sales, bus and limo driver, factory worker, bartender, waitress and restaurant manager. She enjoyed taking CLC classes and said that the instructors have been very helpful to her. “They have a passion for what they’re doing,” she said.

Commencement speakers

Dr. Jerry Weber, CLC president, will serve as the master of ceremonies. The Illinois Outstanding Citizen Award will be presented to Dr. Walter Leise III, the commencement speaker. Leise earned two A.A.S. degrees from CLC in the mid-‘90s and is now CEO of a medical products firm in Florida (see sidebar on Walter Leise).

Other speakers at the ceremony will include Richard Anderson, chairman of the Board of Trustees; Blake Banovitz, 2011-12 president of the Student Government Association; Dr. David Groeninger, history instructor and winner of the 2012 full time faculty member of the year award and Ed Oilschlager, president of the Alumni Association.

Vicente Leyba, member of the CLC class of 2011, will sing the national anthem. Barbara D. Oilschlager will accept the Excellence in Service Award, presented on behalf of Illinois’ community colleges. Dr. Charles Clency, music instructor and director of choral music, will provide organ music. A reception will be held following the ceremony in a tent located in front of the theatre on Genesee Street, with refreshments provided by the CLC Student Government Association.

Information about the ceremony for graduates and families is available online at http://www.clcillinois.edu/graduation. Tickets are not required.

The College of Lake County provided this information.