Arizona Western College and Northern Arizona-Yuma Branch Campus announce the 2012 Commencement. The 2012 graduates will receive their diplomas at Veterans Memorial Stadium located at 7150 E. 24th Street, next to Gila Ridge High School, on Friday, May 11 at 8:00 PM. (Graduates must report to the Gila Ridge Hawk Gym no later than 7:00 PM)
AWC is proud to award 825 Associate degrees and 1,159 certificates this year. AWC has chosen Alfredo Vizcarra for its Commencement Speaker. Alfredo is receiving an Associate of Business degree.
Nearly 800 graduates from Northern Arizona University Branch Campus will also receive their degrees; 606 will receive Bachelor degrees, and 165 will receive Master degrees. NAU-Yuma's 2012 Commencement Speaker is Mily Gomez, who is receiving a Master of Arts in Community Counseling.
Parking and traffic flow assistance will be available for the event due to anticipated heavy traffic combined with recent construction of athletic fields west of the Veterans Memorial Stadium at Gila Ridge High School.
Law enforcement will guide parking into the Gila Ridge parking lot off of 7E and 24th Street, to parking sites around Gila Ridge, to dirt parking around the construction site, and finally to the dirt lot across 24th Street from the stadium, in that order.
Parking is also available at Desert Mesa Elementary School which is immediately east of the Gila Ridge campus. There is a sidewalk that runs between the schools.
AWC faculty and staff are advised to carpool from main campus to minimize parking issues.
Area residents not involved in the AWC and NAU-Yuma Commencement ceremony are encouraged to avoid the intersection of 7E and 24th Street between the hours of 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm due to increased traffic.
Can't attend the Commencement Ceremony? You can still watch your loved one(s) graduate via several viewing options: live on AWC TV/Time Warner Cable Channel 74, streaming online atwww.azwestern.edu, and on DVD.
AWC's Television Services staff will once again broadcast the Arizona Western College, Northern Arizona University-Yuma Branch Campus Commencement, which will begin at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 11. Plus, it will replay for two weeks following the ceremony on the same channel.
For the second year in a row, people around the world will also have live viewing access to the ceremony. The broadcast will stream online atwww.AZWestern.edu beginning at 8 p.m. on May 11.
AWC's Television Services will also create high-resolution DVD copies of the Commencement that will capture the entire ceremony, from the time graduates enter, to the speeches and culmination of the ceremony. The DVDs can be a permanent keepsake or a gift of the memories from that night.
DVDs cost $20 each and can be purchased at the AWC Foundation Office located in 3C 2278 on main campus, through the Foundation's online store atwww.foundation.azwestern.edu, or by calling Susie Pino at (928) 317-7620. DVD copies of the 2011 and 2010 Commencement ceremonies are also available or purchase.
Photo courtesy of Colton Reily AWC Photo Support
