News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Alpena Community College graduate Zander Holmes receives his Associates Degree in Applied Science from ACC Board of Trustees chairman John Briggs during the school’s annual commencement ceremony on Thursday.

ALPENA — On Thursday, Alpena Community College (ACC) conducted its 69th commencement ceremony.

Held inside Park Arena on the Alpena campus, the commencement saw 170 of the 307 graduation candidates march in the commencement ceremony.

The graduates were called up to the stage where they received their degrees or certificates from ACC President Donald MacMaster and from Chairman of the ACC Board of Trustees, John Briggs.

“It’s one of my favorite things of the year,” MacMaster said about the commencement ceremony. “We honor the graduates, many of them have remarkable stories, accomplished a lot, and overcome a lot of adversity.”

The commencement also saw the presentation of Laura Sutton Hickman with the Distinguished Graduate Award, the designation of Tim and Sue Fitzpatrick as College Fellows, a commencement address from the Director of Administrative Information Systems Jeff Blumenthal, and the 51st presentation of the Jesse and Anna Besser Awards.

The Besser Awards are the highest recognition of academic achievement given at Alpena Community College with this year’s award being presented by Candie Dombroski, chief operating officer of Besser Company.

Among this year’s graduating class, graduates Andrew J. Benton and Jordan Kobielus were awarded the Jesse Besser Award and Anna Besser Award respectively.

“It feels crazy,” Benton said about receiving the Besser Award and graduating. “It’s been a lot of hard work but overall, I really love it.”

“It’s great but it’s also bittersweet,” Kobielus said about graduating from ACC. “I’m happy to accomplish everything, but it’s sad to leave a place I call home.”