LYNN — On Friday, 670 graduates walked across the stage at North Shore Community College’s 58th annual commencement ceremony.
The day’s ceremony was split into two sessions. At the 10 a.m. ceremony, 170 students from the liberal studies and health professions fields graduated. At the 2 p.m. ceremony, 157 students from the human services and STEM and business fields received their diplomas.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren gave the commencement address for the 10 a.m. session and provided the graduates with some words of advice.
“Always remember the golden rule of politics and life: Don’t post on TikTok after midnight,” Warren said.
Warren told the graduates that many of them will go on to work in careers that do not exist yet. She said that the value of higher education comes not just from what students learn at school, but also from the connections they make and the ambitions they develop.
“In particular with community colleges, you can choose to become whoever you want to be, and everyone in our community will be affected and benefit from you and what you have chosen to become,” Warren said.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll delivered the commencement address for the 2 p.m. session and encouraged the graduates to consider a career or other kind of involvement in public service.
“Each of you has different dreams and different goals, you’ve all had different ways of getting here,” Driscoll said. “But all of you, every single one, has done the work and today, you all get to say you’re one step closer to pursuing the dreams you’ve imagined for yourself.”
“Let me be the next person to tell you, because I’m sure I am not the first, how proud I am of you for putting in the time and effort, whatever it took, to be successful,” she added.
Nancy Palermo, who gave the student address for the first session, applauded the college’s faculty.
“Professors have a passion for student success,” Palermo, who graduated with an associate degree in respiratory care, said. “It’s unlike anything I have seen before.”
Michelle Bracco, who graduated with a human services practitioner degree, delivered the student address for the second session and encouraged her peers to understand that life does not always go as planned.
“Every pursuit that you attempt, you may not be successful at it, but if this happens, know that you are not failing, rather you are growing, you are learning, you are adapting, because you always have and you always will,” Bracco said. “All that you are doing is simply repositioning yourself so that you can achieve the goals and successes that you set out for yourself.”
Kent Then, who graduated with an associate degree in liberal arts, said that while he is very excited for the future, he is also nervous of what will come.
Claudette Meehan came to the first ceremony to watch her granddaughter Katie Cossette graduate with a physical therapist assistant degree.
“I am very proud of her. This is the beginning of her step forward in life,” Meehan said. “From here, she will fly.”
Paige Scarlett McGaffigan, who graduated at the 2 p.m. ceremony from the veterinary technology program, said she was extremely excited to graduate and felt relieved to be done with her studies.
Her mother, Beth McGaffigan, said that out of 17 students who started the “rigorous” program, only nine graduated. She said she was very proud that her daughter was one of them.
She added that she was impressed by the dedication of professors at the college and said her daughter had a “very rich experience” at NSCC.
Out of the 670 students who graduated Friday, 5% were veterans and around 45 received MassReconnect funding, according to NSCC Senior Executive Director of Strategic Communications Rebecca Oliver.
