College will graduate record class on Friday

Flathead Valley Community College will graduate 310 students — the largest class in its 44-year history — on Friday, May 11.

Spring 2012 commencement exercise will begin at 7 p.m. in the Trade Center Building at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

 Frank Garner will give the commencement address.

The former Kalispell police chief and a community college alumnus, Garner now serves as chief of security for Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

At commencement, the college will award 270 associate’s degrees and 40 certificates to spring graduates, along with 62 summer 2011 graduates and 86 fall 2011 graduates for a total of 458 degrees and certificates for the 2011-12 academic year.

Last year’s graduation class also broke previous records.

College President Jane Karas will present paramedicine graduate Corey Ledbetter the Newman Civic Fellow Award from Campus Compact. Ledbetter is one of 162 students across the nation to receive the national award that recognizes inspiring college student leaders who have worked to find solutions for challenges facing their communities.

 Karas also will acknowledge transfer student Anmol Manchala as the first Flathead Valley Community College student to receive a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

This scholarship, awarded to only 66 students, honors the nation’s top community college students with awards of up to $30,000 per year for up to three years to complete their bachelor’s degrees at any four-year college or university in the United States.

 Karas will follow those awards with the presentation of her seventh annual Montana Mentor Award to a community leader who inspires Montanans with leadership, vision, integrity and passion and who exemplifies the meaning of mentor. Flathead Valley radio announcer George Ostrom won the award last year.

 Refreshments will follow the ceremony. For more information, contact Registrar Marlene Stoltz by calling 756-3846 or by emailing mstoltz@fvcc.edu.