"Life Happens" the theme...Environmentally-friendly caps and gowns worn...Oldest graduate 80 years of age

NEW BRITAIN, CT - June 6, 2010 - Wearing environmentally friendly caps and gowns, 450 members of the Class of 2010 received bachelor's degrees during Charter Oak State College's commencement ceremony held June 6. Charter Oak State College is Connecticut's public online college for adults seeking to complete degrees (www.CharterOak.edu).

An honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, was presented to Astrid T. Hanzalek, former Chair of the Board for State Academic Awards (BSAA), a position she was appointed in 2007 by Governor M. Jodi Rell. Hanzalek is also a former member of Connecticut's House of Representatives serving from 1971 - 1981. Charter Oak president, Ed Klonoski addressed the graduates. The student speaker was Oxford resident Lisa Wildman, student representative to the BSAA and Student Association Council member. The ceremony was webcast to graduates across the country who were unable to attend in person.

In his remarks, Klonoski noted the untraditional nature of Charter Oak students and the sometimes difficult and circuitous route they took to receive their degree. He characterized the graduates as 'second- chance learners", often balancing work and family while completing degrees. Klonoski told the graduates, "As you know better than I do, today did not happen by accident. It most likely began a number of years ago... in a few cases, more years than you care to admit... and I suspect it didn't go smoothly. Things happened that derailed your first efforts at college. Life happened."

Klonoski continued, "...life happened, and your degree hopes were put aside. But that dream of a degree didn't die when you turned 25. It is true that many of you had your education derailed by life events, but it is equally true that each of you is here because some other life event drove you to start back up and persevere until you finished."

Klonoski concluded by encouraging the graduates, "Never doubt that you can accomplish great things. You have. And never doubt that life will happen while you are trying. It did and it does. But today you graduates are proof to yourselves and to the rest of us, that we can all achieve great things not in spite of what life throws at us but because life happens."

Shirley Adams, Provost, Charter Oak State College, shared the following statistics regarding the Class of 2010:

• 61% are women
• Graduates range in age from 17 to 80
• 69% are from Connecticut
• Graduates hail from 35 states and 12 countries
• 24% are minority
• Once enrolled, the shortest time to earn a bachelor's degree was 2.8 months and the longest time was 383 months or 32 years.
• The oldest graduate at age 80 earned an associate degree in 1975 then returned to college in 1980 taking one or two courses at a time, mostly through correspondence.

Awards presented to Class of '10 graduates

The Doris G. Cassiday award is given to those graduates of Charter Oak who have achieved excellence in innovative learning and who exemplify the essence of the Charter Oak mission. With this award, the College recognizes individuals who avail themselves fully of a broad range of learning options, earning credits both inside and outside the traditional classroom setting. These options include distance learning, testing, portfolio assessment, contract learning, military service school courses and other non-collegiate sponsored instruction, which has been evaluated for credit, as well as classroom instruction.

2010 award recipients include:

Kyna E. Hively, Philadelphia, Tennessee
Matthew D. Muto, West Brookfield, Massachusetts
Rosalba Rincon, Waterbury, Connecticut
Rodney Rios, Mobile, Alabama
Christopher John Rohland, Danbury, Connecticut
Samuel Albert Salo, Greendale, Wisconsin
Jason Bernie Shearer, Syracuse, Utah
Mary E. S. Townsend, Socorro, Texas

Awards for Outstanding Academic Performance were presented to:

John H. Bensenhaver
Peter H. Bergenholtz