North Central Michigan College will mark the end of a successful academic year with two important ceremonies on May 3.
The college will hold its 64th annual commencement exercises at 7:30 p.m. inside Petoskey Plastics Arena in the college’s Student and Community Resource Center. More than 250 graduates will receive their diplomas. A reception for graduates and guests will follow the ceremony.
“Commencement is the exciting culmination of years of hard work by our students and faculty,” said NCMC President David Roland Finley. “We are thrilled to celebrate our students’ achievements and watch them take the next step into a successful future.”
Monica Peck, librarian and community leader, will provide the commencement address.
Peck, who graduated from North Central in 2009, is director of the Boyne District
Library. In 2022, Peck was named the Public Librarian of the Year by the Michigan
Library Association. Four years prior, in 2018, she was named a Rising Star by Wayne
State University, where she earned her Master of Library Science degree.
Peck serves as a trustee on the Charlevoix County Community Foundation Board and the Leadership Charlevoix County Board. She also serves on the Boyne City Chamber of Commerce Board and the Otsego County Library Board. She and her husband, Jordan, live in Gaylord and share a blended family with seven children.
“I’m honored to return to NCMC to give the commencement address,” Peck said. “It’s humbling to think I could contribute to an institution that has given me so much. When I attended my commencement in 2009, I remember the excitement that I felt, and I’m thrilled to share that with the class of 2024.”
During the ceremony, college officials will award honorary degrees of Community and Educational Service to Pier and Renee Borra in recognition of their contributions to the healthcare field and to the college.
Donors to North Central since 2009, the Borras have supported many funding priorities, including the Healthy Investment and Building Tomorrow Together capital campaigns. The Borras have also supported student success initiatives, technology, and scholarships, including the Borra Nursing Pathway Scholarship. Thanks to their generosity, in 2023, McLaren Northern Michigan opened the Justin A. Borra Behavioral Health Center in Cheboygan to provide mental and behavioral health resources to those in need.
North Central’s nurse pinning ceremony, the annual tradition that marks the completion of students’ nursing coursework, will be held immediately prior to commencement, at 4 p.m. in Petoskey Plastics Arena. Twenty-six student-nurses will receive their pins. A reception for nurses and their families will follow the pinning ceremony.
Lily Wilcox, who graduated from North Central’s nursing program in 2019, will deliver
the keynote address to the 2024 nursing graduates. Wilcox’s professional experience
spans various settings, from medical-surgical care to her leadership role as a charge
nurse in Emergency Medicine at McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital.
Now a travel nurse serving Northern Michigan, Wilcox continues to exemplify excellence in emergency medicine. She also uses her experience to shape the next generation of nurses, serving as a clinical instructor and tutor for NCMC’s nursing program.
Both nurse pinning and commencement will be livestreamed for those unable to attend. For more information about both events, including a list of graduates by academic program, visit www.ncmich.edu/commencement.