The President and CEO of Olds College is excited to celebrate their students who have successfully completed their studies.
Debbie Thompson shares that the attendees to the Class of 2026 convocation ceremonies on Friday, June 5th will also include their dual-credit students. Thompson says “so we will have approximately 119 students attending convocation who are dual-credit students and that means they’ve completed our Vet Tech Assistant Program and will graduate from both high school and college in the same year.”
She highlights the fact that this year’s valedictorian is Madison McManaman, a graduate the Business Management diploma with a major in sports management. Thompson says “I would share with you that along with a focus on her studies, Madison worked with our residence services, our equity, diversity, and inclusion, and Broncos athletic teams to contribute to our campus community. As well, Madison volunteered with our Junior ‘A’ Olds Grizzlys, and served as a community coach and board member for the Airdrie Highlands Rugby Club, and an event manager for the inaugural Airdrie Sport Summit. Madison truly exemplifies what it means to take the lessons learned in the classroom at Olds College and apply them in practice to the real world.”
Thompson says this will be the third year that Olds College will split the grad ceremony into two parts and she expects a total of approximately 2,800 guests to visit their campus for it. A live stream of the convocation ceremony is available here. The first is at 10am on Friday and the second is a 1:30pm.
Graduates are also encouraged to show their Olds College pride and post photos from locations around campus using the hashtag #OCGrad2026. Thompson notes that approximately 630 students will actually attend the convocation which represents about 50 per cent of their eligible graduates and that is very similar to last year.
Listen to 96.5 The Ranch’s Community Hotline conversation with Debbie Thompson.
