MCC Confers 692 Degrees and Certificates to the Class of 2021
MANCHESTER, Conn. (June 10, 2021) – Manchester Community College today conferred 692 degrees and certificates to the 657 members of the Class of 2021.
The college is hosting a special web page to honor the graduates in lieu of the formal 57th annual commencement ceremonies to help ensure health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit www.manchestercc.edu/current-students/commencement for a special recorded program honoring the graduates.
Forty-two grads have achieved summa cum laude, 75 are magna cum laude and 88 are cum laude. The oldest graduate is 65 and the youngest is 18. The class comes from 95 towns across 10 states in addition to Connecticut.
Sarah Hocutt, of East Windsor, is valedictorian for the Class of 2021, and the salutatorian is JoDee Cyr, of Newington.
Hocutt was homeschooled for most of her education. At the age of 15, she attended Central Connecticut State University as a non-matriculated student and, after two semesters, transferred to MCC to pursue the CSCU Pathway Transfer Degree: Mathematics Studies. Along the way she also satisfied the criteria for a high school diploma, completing all her requirements for an associate degree with a GPA of 4.0 in Fall 2020. She is enrolled at the University of Connecticut, studying mathematics, computer science and German, with plans for a career in cyber-defense or a related field.
Cyr developed a passion for drawing and sketching in early childhood. After a 30-year career as a legal administrative assistant and paralegal she was forced to consider a new path. In 2019, she saw the opportunity to engage her lifelong passion, switch gears and pursue a degree in art. She enrolled at MCC as a full-time Visual Fine Arts major and now plans to continue her education with the eventual goal of teaching art to children and adults
The speaker at MCC’s 57th Commencement Ceremony will be Dr. Carol Curchoe Burton ’00. Burton, a native of South Windsor now based in San Diego, is the founder of ART Compass, (www.artcompass.io) a mobile application platform for in vitro fertilization laboratory management. She has published in numerous scientific journals and the popular press. She is the author of The Thin Pink Line (Nova Science Publishers, 2021), a critical exploration of historical perspectives and controversial topics in modern gynecology. She was awarded the Manchester Community College Alumna of the Year award in 2019.
