SUNY Orange celebrates 76th commencement

SUNY Orange’s graduating class of 2026 celebrated their commencement in Middletown on May 21.

Scheduled to be held outdoors on the Alumni Green, Commencement was moved indoors to the Physical Education Center because of the inclement weather. Despite the move, an estimated 2,200 friends and family members crowded into the gymnasium, while more than 250 filled nearby on-campus viewing locations and hundreds more watched online via the College’s livestream.

“The world you are entering does not simply need people with credentials. It needs people who know how to keep going once they have the credential,” SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young told the graduates. “And that is exactly what community colleges help build. Your degree does not represent perfection or certainty. It represents proof. Proof that you kept going. And proof that you will keep going.”

Pending certification of their transcripts, a total of 767 students are in line to complete degree requirements over the current academic year, and nearly 450 of them participated in Thursday’s ceremony.

The event included featured remarks from newly minted graduate Devshi Saxena and math Professor Michelle Tubbs. Saxena, of Goshen, was a winner of this year’s SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence while Tubbs received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.

The college also hosted SUNY Trustee Stanley Litow, who offered comments along with County Executive Steve Neuhaus, SUNY Orange Board of Trustees Chair Tom Weddell (who graduated from the College 50 years ago in 1976) and SUNY Orange Foundation Board member Adam McCarey.

Each year, SUNY Orange awards diplomas to students who earn Associate in Arts, Associate in Science and Associate in Applied Science degrees, while presenting graduation certificates to those who complete the college’s various certificate programs.