The Champlain College Saint-Lambert Continuing Education 2025 graduation ceremony took place on June 5th in the college auditorium where an audience of 400 people celebrated the achievements of the 89 students and RAC candidates present.

After inspiring opening remarks delivered by Mark Wallace, the Director of Continuing Education at Champlain Saint-Lambert, and Jean-Phillippe Caron, the Director General of Champlain Regional College, the members of the 2024-25 cohort took to the stage in recognition of their success.

Three prizes were awarded throughout the evening. The Tony Maciocia award, in memory of a former Recognition of Acquired Competencies (RAC) content specialist, is given each year to a Special Care Counselling candidate.

This year’s recipient was Garvie Thomas, for his supportive energy that inspired his cohort.

The second award of the evening was the Perseverance Award, given on behalf of the Champlain Professionals Association.

Fany Lorel Dongmo Temback, also a Special Care Counselling graduate, received this award in recognition of her hard work to complete her program in spite of obstacles in her way.

The final award is the Celebration of Learning Award, given on behalf of the Champlain Support Staff Union. The recipient was a student in the Specialist in Transportation and Logistics program, Mohamed Zrafi.

After the presentation of the awards, Donald Shewan, the constituent college, gave a moving closing speech and invited all the children present to join him on stage to cheer their parents’ success.

Throughout the day, inspiring testimonials from graduating students were projected on the College’s electronic bulletin boards.

When asked, ‘What was the most rewarding part of returning to school?’, Special Care Counselling grad Joanna Litwin replied: “Holding my diploma and realizing that it was all done. Amazing feeling.”

Candace Tripp, who completed the Early Childhood Education program, shared that her most rewarding part was “meeting the wonderful and diverse group that I spent two years of my life with, as well as the teachers who dedicated their time and energy to giving us the best lessons that they could offer.”

Congrats to all the graduates!