Middlesex Names 2014 Student Commencement Speakers

Middlesex Community College students Miranda Cashman of Concord and Stephen McDonald of Chelmsford have been selected as 2014 Student Commencement Speakers. They will address the approximately 1,250 members of the Class of 2014 during commencement exercises, to be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 22, in the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, 50 E. Merrimack St.

An award-winning young writer, actor and playwright, Cashman also has a passion for math and science. She started at Middlesex as a home-schooled Dual Enrollment student at age 16, and will graduate with an associate in arts degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences with a Physical Science Concentration just days after she turns 19.  

At Middlesex, Cashman served as a student Supplemental Instructor in trigonometry, is a member of Phi Theta Kappa (the international honor society for two-year colleges) and the Commonwealth Honors Program. She has been awarded three Middlesex Community College Foundation Scholarships over the past two years. And, in June, she will travel to China as part the MCC Foundation’s International Education Fellowship program.

Cashman has been named the Middlesex representative to the Department of Higher Education’s 29 Who Shine, an annual program recognizing outstanding students from each of the state’s 29 public campuses. She also was featured in the spring 2014 issue of MCC’s Profiles magazine (https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/Profiles/). Cashman has been accepted into the Commonwealth Honors College at UMass Amherst, where she plans to major in geology.

McDonald is a disabled veteran injured during the War in Iraq. After Cpl. McDonald retired from the Army, he returned to college to finish his education and will graduate with an associate in science degree in Business Administration Transfer.

At Middlesex, McDonald helped found the APLUS Club for Tutoring Outreach, is a member of the Paul H. Sullivan Leadership Institute, and has worked as a peer tutor in mathematics and accounting. He plans to transfer to UMass Lowell to earn a B.S. in accounting, as well as a master’s degree, and eventually become a CPA.

Hill Harper, award-winning actor, best-selling author and youth advocate, will deliver the commencement address to the Middlesex Class of 2014.

For more information about MCC's 2014 Student Commencement Speakers, contact Patricia Demaras, Assistant Dean of International & Multicultural Affairs, at 978-656-3256 or demarasp@middlesex.mass.edu.

MCC is one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in the state. We offer more than 75 degree and certificate programs, plus hundreds of noncredit courses, during the day, evening and weekend, on our Bedford and Lowell campuses, and online. Middlesex – a great place to begin your future!