The 2025-26 academic year saw Merced College execute a major shift to a shorter, 16-week semester calendar, which has also moved up the main graduation ceremonies.
Graduation for associate degree recipients are scheduled for the Los Banos Campus on April 30 at 7 p.m. and the Merced Campus on May 1 at 6 p.m.
The college is also rethinking how best to acknowledge the growing number of certificate earners who are completing programs that lead to great careers while making Merced College ever more valuable to the community and regional workforce.
In 2024-25, Merced College saw a 3.5% bump in total awards to 3,418, including 715 Associate Degrees, and 929 Associate Degrees for Transfer, and 1,774 certificates.
Until now, being recognized for earning certificates has taken different forms or no form at all. This year, the college has worked to standardize celebrations for certificate earners.
“The Graduation Committee has been working hard to figure out the best ways to celebrate their hard work, too,” said Associate Dean of Nursing Claire Alvarez. “There is a lot of standardization going on.”
The college is also continuing to find ways to give special recognition to special populations with unique celebrations around the time of graduation. Here are just a few of the ways Merced College is celebrating its graduates this year.
Agriculture & Industrial Technology Recognition Ceremony
IAC Amphitheater, Merced Campus, April 20, 6 p.m.
Cody Jacobsen, Dean of Instruction for Agriculture and Industrial Technology, said his area has improved the ceremony first held in December 2025 for fast-track and competency-based education certificate earners.
Autumn Gardia, Director of Special Projects and Grants, organized the initial event in December, which acknowledged certificates given for completed training in Ag Business, Ag Systems, Animal Science, Automotive Technology, Commercial/Residential Electrical, Crop Science, Dietetic Service Supervisor/Certified Dietary Manager, Environmental Horticulture, Equine Science, General Agriculture, HVAC, Pipe Welding, Pipe Welding Technology, Welding Technology, Industrial Electrical Technician and Truck Driving.
Jacobsen met a Le Grand High School friend at the ceremony who was there to support a nephew. The nephew had never graduated from high school, and their entire family was there to honor his achievement at Merced College.
“That reaffirmed to me why we need to do these ceremonies,” Jacobsen said.
The college administration also liked what it saw and pushed to add and formalize what certificate ceremonies could and should be for students. Previously, for example, welding students at the Los Banos Campus had a BBQ after their last day of class, but other students in Ag-IT programs had no celebration.
“There was no consistency; now, by echoing our ceremony, we have a standard,” Jacobsen said. “Autumn did a fantastic job. Anything we put together, we want it to be first-class, because the students, families and industry people who support the college deserve it.”
LatinX Recognition Celebration
IAC Amphitheater, Merced Campus, April 23, 5:30 p.m.
The LatinX Recognition Ceremony (Ceremonia de Reconocimiento LatinX) is a cultural celebration for Latino graduates and is the newest among intimate ceremonies for populations like Black students and LGBTQIA+ students (Lavender Graduation).
It’s a first for Latino students, who make up 67% of Merced College’s student population. EOPS Counselor/Equity Coordinator Cimmaron Ruiz said students insisted the event be delivered in both Spanish and English.
“The students had asked for their own recognition gathering and wanted their parents to be able to understand what’s being said,” Ruiz said. “They don’t (translate) during the main graduation. It made sense. This is the parents’ time to celebrate their children. It was time.”
Graduates will wear LatinX stoles for the celebration, and Merced College Trustee Ernie Ochoa will speak. Class of 2026 graduate Renee Serena will give a student address about completing her LVN training and five other degrees.
Ruiz gathered a task force to craft something emotional and culturally respectful.
“The students need to feel our support,” he said. “We want them to know that Merced College stands behind them, wherever they end up in life.”
Other population-specific celebrations this year included African American Scholars on April 14, AAPI Scholars on April 15, and Pride Scholars (LGBTQ+) on April 16.
Fire Academy Ceremony, April 25, 10 a.m.
CNA Ceremony, April 25, 2:30 p.m.
LVN Ceremony, May 4, 2 p.m.
RN Pinning Ceremony, May 4, 5:30 p.m.
Merced College Theater
These certificates denote students who have completed the state-required training and are eligible to take the national board tests for Registered Nurses (National Council Licensure Examination) and Licensed Vocational Nurses (NCLEX-PN), or the state’s Certified Nursing Assistants Board and California Fire Fighter Certification exams.
Each ceremony features a formal acknowledgement as graduates accept their new role as society’s helpers. For example, RN graduates do a pinning ceremony that is steeped in tradition: graduates dressed in white, everyone holding a lit lamp, giving the Nightingale pledge, and then being “pinned.”
“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Alvarez said. “You’re so proud about achieving something so big, and you’re sad to be leaving your fellow students, who have become family. It’s a relief, it’s a celebration, it’s fear of the unknown. It’s the deep hope you’ll pass the licensing examination and find a good job.
“Yet, it’s so exciting to see your family embrace this huge achievement you’ve managed. Speaking as a leader in nursing, when I go out to hospitals and other facilities and see former students taking care of their community, it makes my cup runneth over.”
Transfer Recognition Ceremony
Downey Learning Resource Center 2nd Floor
April 9, 5:30 p.m.
Transfer students represent a huge portion of the student population and also a big part of the community college mission—preparing students for four-year universities.
The Career & Transfer Center (CTC) has always recognized transfer students who move on to four-year universities. CTC Director Ernesto Hernandez said with the transfer ceremony moving up to April, many transfer students are still waiting to accurately identify their next destination.
“We send 80% of our transfers to Cal State Stanislaus anyway, so that’s consistent,” Hernandez said. “But campuses like UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego haven’t released their acceptance letters to transfers yet. Their decisions might change afterwards.”
Some students complete transfer requirements and receive a certificate of recognition, while others earn Associate of Arts for Transfer degrees. The transfer celebration is the same for all.
“Making it a night event, and making it more formal with a buffet-style dinner upgrades the entire experience,” Hernandez said. “The directive was to make students feel special and valued, and to celebrate the transfer process.
“I come from a family of four Merced College grads who transferred elsewhere — I think I just picked up my transcript and left. So this encourages me to do something special for our students.”
Memories Being Made
Human beings need ceremonies to mark special moments.
“We have students with several kids and maybe several jobs who faced so many obstacles to get to the finish line,” Jacobsen said. “So I want them to remember that time their 4-year-old son or daughter watched them walk across the stage.”
Ruiz went back to school in his 40s and now helps other Latinos feel gratified by their accomplishments.
“I’m focused on them so they don’t become a statistic,” he said. “I want them to go through graduation so they recognize themselves as successes.”
Hernandez concurs.
“I want our transfer students to feel seen,” he said. “I want them to be heard. I want them to be celebrated.”
Alvarez will retire in June after 18 years at Merced College and 38 years as an RN. When she attends her last RN pinning ceremony this month, she will go to the podium and say for the final time: “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the graduating Class of 2026.”
“And the crowd will go wild,” Alvarez said. “They can’t help themselves. We’ll all feel how meaningful it is.”