Nearly 1,100 students earned degrees and certificates at our May 22 commencement, making the Class of 2016 the largest graduating class in SMCC’s 70-year history.

Commencement is a celebration of our students’ success, but it is also a launch point to bright futures ahead.

With a mix of career and transfer-oriented degrees, our graduates are poised to significantly increase their job prospects and their earnings potential. A recent federal Department of Education college scorecard found that students had an average salary of $37,300 after attending SMCC — a higher figure than that of most private and public colleges and universities in Maine.

Adam Knight, of Harpswell, was among those who took part in our graduation ceremony after completing his degree in Composite Science & Manufacturing, a program we offer on our Midcoast Campus in Brunswick. Adam comes from a family of lobster fishermen, but he believed in the future of composites and decided to take a leap of faith and change careers.

Through his connections he gained at SMCC, Adam now has a job testing things like wind power blades and tidal power turbines. He says knew he was getting a good education at SMCC when he and another composites student were working with some visiting Ph.D. students from UMass-Lowell.

“When they met us, they didn’t know we were associate degree students,” he says. “They thought we were working toward our master’s degrees. That was a huge compliment, having somebody of that caliber have that perception of us.”

The SMCC Class of 2016 included students from all across Maine and all across New England as well as from California, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Outside of the U.S., our graduates came from 20 countries on five continents. Our oldest graduate was 70, our youngest was 19.

From SMCC, many of our graduates are continuing their education at the University of Southern Maine, the University of Maine and the University of New England. We also have graduates who are going to Smith College, Northeastern University, Colby and the University of North Carolina, among many others.

For those entering the workforce, our graduates have skills that already have landed them jobs at Pratt- Whitney, Maine Medical Center, the Lewiston Fire Department, MEMIC, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, IDEXX Laboratories, LAI, WEX, iBec Creative, the VIA Agency and many other businesses.

These aren’t low-paying jobs, either. Of the 28 Maine institutions listed in the Department of Education college scorecard, only seven ranked higher than SMCC for earnings of former students.

Adam Knight, who’s 32 and ready for the challenge, is poised for a bright future. But he’s only one of many.

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Ron Cantor is president of Southern Maine Community College.