For the first time since 2019, College of the Canyons will host a full traditional commencement ceremony in the Honor Grove. The Class of 2022 will be honored on Friday, June 3, and a Grad Walk celebration will be held in the same setting on Thursday, June 2.

“The Class of 2022 has shown tremendous grit and determination by reaching graduation despite the unpredictability they faced during the past two years of the pandemic,” said College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook. “It is an honor and privilege to congratulate this class of 2022 whose grit, resilience, courage and drive distinguished them from the rest.”

The Grad Walk experience will allow students to walk across a graduation stage, hear their name read and have pictures taken by a professional photographer. The Grad Walk experience will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 2 in 30-minute increments.

Students were given the chance to sign up for the Grad Walk or traditional ceremony experience.

The traditional commencement ceremony will be held at 8 a.m. Friday, June 3. The ceremony will be livestreamed at canyonsnews.com/live.

The class of 2022 has 2,443 students who petitioned for graduation, representing a roughly 3.5 percent increase from last year’s graduating class.

This class represents 105 majors, with business (341) ranking as the leading field of study among graduates, followed by liberal arts and sciences (CSU social and behavioral sciences) (335), liberal arts and sciences (CSU health science emphasis) (311), psychology (287), liberal arts and sciences (CSU social and behavioral sciences) (168), accounting (146), and sociology (109).

There are also 881 students graduating with two or more degrees.

The class of 2022 is approximately 60.7 percent female (1,483) and 39.3 percent male (960).

Academically, there are 1,027 students graduating with honors — which requires a 3.5 GPA or higher — and 119 students with perfect 4.0 GPAs, which grants them the status of valedictorians at the college. The average GPA of the class of 2022 is 3.32.

The average age of a COC graduate is 24. The oldest student in the class is 78 years old and the youngest graduates in the class are 44 students who are 17 years old.

Notably, there are also 72 veteran graduates in the college’s class of 2022.

There are 58 students from the school’s Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program who are either graduating or transferring to a four-year school.

Additionally, there are 84 COC student-athletes counted in this year’s class who will be transferring or graduation, with many expected to continue competing at the four-year level.

Nearly 44 percent of this year’s graduates have completed at least one course at the college’s Canyon Country campus, which first opened in 2007.

Graduates from the class of 2022 will be launching careers in a wide variety of fields, and transferring to four-year schools including: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, USC, Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Fresno, Mount St. Mary’s, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, CSU Los Angeles, San Diego State University, Grand Canyon University, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CSU Long Beach, CSU Northridge, University of Arkansas at Pine-Bluff, Auburn University, Clarke University, Coastal Carolina University, CSU Chico, CSU Channel Islands, Culver-Stockton College, Davenport University, Graceland University, University of Kansas, University of Oregon, University of Nevada, University of Houston, and University of Hawaii.