Fort Pierce - Thursday December 14, 2023: Indian River State College (IRSC) held Fall Commencement ceremonies this week inside the Havert Fenn Center in Fort Pierce.
Three separate graduation ceremonies were held, two on Wednesday and the third on Thursday morning. In all IRSC issued diplomas and awards to 2,070 students. 962 students received Associate degrees, 468 Bachelors degrees were awarded, and 640 vocational certificates and advanced technology diplomas were handed out.
“Commencement is a special time in the lives of our graduates and for all of us at Indian River State College,” said Dr. Timothy Moore, Indian River State College President. “Over these two days, we ... rejoice in our students’ accomplishments and celebrate their hard work in the classroom, resiliency in overcoming challenges, and ambition to
achieve their dreams.”
Wednesday December 13: IRSC alumna Dr. Melissa Kindell, who is the owner of Everglades Pediatric Dentistry, was the keynote speaker at Wednesday's commencement ceremonies.
Dr. Kindell is a pediatric dentist and Owner of Everglades Pediatric Dentistry. She was born and raised in Okeechobee and earned an Associate Degree at Indian River State College before attending the University of Florida, where she received both a Bachelor of Science Degree in Microbiology and a Doctorate of Dental Medicine. Dr. Kindell is President of the Board at Martha’s House and serves on the Executive Board of the Economic Council of Okeechobee. She and her husband, Eric, reside in Okeechobee with their two boys.
Thursday December 14: Cheryl Turja, who heads Adobe's Worldwide Education Sales and Customer Success division, spoke to the students at this morning's graduation event.
Turja is a technology industry veteran with decades of experience leading teams and coaching individuals with worldwide responsibilities at Fortune 500 companies, including Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Adobe. She is also a trained secondary teacher with a Bachelor of Science in Education from Maranatha Baptist University in Wisconsin. For the last dozen years, she has been living her passion—developing creativity and storytelling in young people—at Adobe, where she is Head of Worldwide Education Sales and Customer Success.