NCCC Celebrates the Class of 2026
262 students earn degrees, certificates: Carrie and Casey Reardon deliver keynote speeches
Saranac Lake, NY — North Country Community College celebrated the achievements of the Class of 2026 during its 58th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2026. Held in the Sparks Athletic Complex gymnasium on the college’s Saranac Lake campus, the event honored 262 graduates who earned a degree or certificate in their field of study.
The gymnasium was filled to capacity as family members, friends, faculty, and staff gathered to recognize the accomplishments of the graduates. The ceremony featured remarks from several members of the college community, including Dr. Pete Suttmeier, chair of the college Board of Trustees, and Emma Byl, a graduating Sports and Events Management student who hails from Germany. She spoke about how she came to appreciate the different paths and backgrounds of everyone she encountered during her time at the college.
“You come in as an outsider at first,” Byl said. “But over time, you realize how much people actually have in common. And how powerful something as simple as openness, respect, and kindness can be. And maybe that’s one of the most important things we take with us today. Not just the degree, but the understanding that connection is always possible, even with people who may seem different from us at first.”
This year’s Commencement address was delivered in tandem by Carrie and Casey Reardon, a married couple from Saranac Lake who are both North Country alumni. A 2004 graduate of the college’s nursing program, Carrie Reardon serves as Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services at Adirondack Health. Casey Reardon, a Criminal Justice program graduate (1997), is a retired police sergeant, combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and currently serves as Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Security Director at Adirondack Health.
Carrie Reardon talked about how 90 percent of the nursing leadership team at the local hospital are North Country graduates.
“This college gave many of us a starting point. It’s a place where people believed in us before we fully believed in ourselves,” she said. “A place where faculty and mentors generally wanted students to succeed. That is the impact a community college can have. It creates opportunity. It develops leaders. And it strengthens the entire community.”
Casey Reardon recalled a lesson from one of his instructors at the college, Garth Griffin, a retired state trooper who encouraged him to “take every test you can. You’re ready.”
“Looking out across this audience today, I think he’d say the same thing about all of you. You’re ready,” he said. “You’re who keeps communities moving forward. That’s the kind of people this college builds.”
College President Joe Keegan addressed the Class of 2026 with a heartfelt message about their journey and the road ahead:
“You leave us as something more than you came, possessing more knowledge, skills, awareness, empathy, and find yourself further along the path of more fully becoming the person you are meant to be,” he said. “Use what you learned to enrich the lives of others, to be a source of strength to all who will need you, and that share the good news about your experience with others, so they may find what you have discovered here at North Country.”
As part of the ceremony, President Keegan recognized two college employees with State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Awards:
- Brian McAllister, Excellence in Adjunct Teaching
- Scott Stringer, Excellence in Teaching
The ceremony concluded with a standing ovation for the graduates and was followed by a reception in the college Connector. Commencement was streamed live, and a recording of the event will be available on the college’s website.