Cypress College held their graduation ceremonies this week using an innovative virtual broadcast. During the ceremony, the state’s top community college honored their top graduates, faculty and presidential scholars of distinction.
Elise Cunanan is Cypress College’s 2020 Outstanding Graduate. Cunanan completed two associate degrees in fall 2019, one in sociology and the second in liberal studies: social and behavioral sciences. She began attending California State University, Fullerton, this spring. Her career goals are to become a school counselor and to work for a non-profit organization.
At Cypress College, Cunanan was a member of the Associated Students, worked as a member of the Student Ambassador team, and established the Student Advocates for Education Club to provide community service to K-12 and higher education students. She also worked to raise awareness about student homelessness.
“I selected Cypress College because my parents both are alumni of community colleges, my mom even attended Cypress College herself,” Cunanan said. “I actually did not apply to any universities as a high school senior, because I felt that choosing a university to attend was a big decision that I was not ready to make at the time. Another great benefit about Cypress College is that tuition is affordable and the staff here is extraordinarily helpful.”
The Cypress College Presiential Scholars of Distinction included Brandon Nguyen, Business/CIS, John Lasater, CTE, Kylie Christensen, Fine Arts, Christina Williams, Health Science, Frankie Islas, Kinesiology, Nate Garcia, Language Arts, Anh Nguyen, L/LRC Connor Kilzer, SEM and Sarah Queneau, Social Sciences.
The college also honored their entire full-time faculty as “outstanding,” and likewise for their “outstanding” adjunct faculty.
Kathleen McAlister, Distance Education Coordinator, was named as the recipient of this year’s “Charger Award.”
