Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Onondaga Community College grads at the top of their class.

John Smith
/
WAER News

Onondaga Community College has been putting the finishes touches on its 50th Graduation Ceremony on May 18th at SRC Arena at the college.  Two students in the graduating 2013 Class won SUNY Chancellor's Awards.

Receiving several awards in addition to the one from the Chancellor is  extra icing on the cake for O-C-C Music Major Sheralyn Wellman of Syracuse.  She also received the Music Department’s Curriculum Award and another from Phi Theta Kappa.  Her time at O-C-C defined what she wants to do in life, “A new love of music in a way I didn’t have before.  A new understanding, a new appreciation and a lot of really good experiences.  There’s nothing that I regret about coming here.  It’s all been such an honor".

Wellman plans to take a year off to further “polish-off her singing skills” in hopes of getting accepted to Boston Conservatory.   Another O-C-C Graduate that’s also walking away with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award, along with several others, is Garrett Sisson from Schenectady, “I loved playing basketball here.  The academics here are just excellent.  I just ended up doing really well and earning a lot of opportunity to go to different school.  I got invested in a lot of things at Onondaga.   So, it’s been a fun time and I wouldn’t trade it for the world”. 

Sisson will attend St. John Fisher College in Rochester next fall and plans on majoring in Communications / Journalism with a specialization in Public Relations.  He wants young people to know his tenacity allowed him to get to where he is now,  “I didn’t make a basketball team until I was in 7th Grade.  I got cut from teams and now I’m going to go play college basketball.  And, you know, from there, who knows what could happen.  So, if you put your mind to it and give it everything you can, you can really do something great in this world”.  If what Garret said there is any indication, his Keynote Speech at graduation will likely be just as inspiring.  The ceremony will be held tomorrow at SRC Arena at the college beginning at 1 PM.  Time Warner Cable will rebroadcast the ceremony on Sunday, May 19th at 7PM on channel 1500.     

John Smith has been waking up WAER listeners for a long time as our Local Co-Host of Morning Edition with timely news and information, working alongside student Sportscasters from the Newhouse School.