By Patrick Ronan
The Patriot Ledger
For Marion Mukundane, Quincy College was more than just a place to prepare for a career. As a native of Uganda, she said the immigrant-friendly college helped her acclimate to a new country.
“I feel very proud being an international student here because I feel like I have learned a lot from just sitting in classrooms and talking to classmates about my culture and how things are done where I come from,” she said. “Learning about their various backgrounds, too, it’s been very instrumental in helping me open my mind to the school of ideas out there.”
Mukundane was the student speaker Friday during Quincy College’s commencement at South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset. In total, 577 students earned their associate degrees and 169 received program certificates from the two-year community college, which has campuses in Quincy and Plymouth and offers online courses.
The Class of 2016 had students hailing from 120 different countries.
The ceremony’s keynote speaker was Kenneth Ansin, the community banking director of Enterprise Bank & Trust in Lowell whose eclectic career has included running a shoe factory, starting a portable-toilet business and specializing in micro-financing after helping build schools and increase private enterprise in the West African country of Mali.
“Some of you have crossed oceans, smashed stereotypes and proven naysayers wrong,” Ansin said to graduates. “You juggled work, fear of failure, costs and logistics of childcare, Snowmageddon 2015, ubiquitous road construction and parking issues (in downtown Quincy) to claw your way to today.”
At the start of commencement, the school observed a moment of silence to honor the late Vibeke Rasmussen, who was a biology professor at the Plymouth campus for seven years. Rasmussen was stabbed to death in her Plymouth home on May 5.
Online Article: http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20160527/NEWS/160526173