SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Lake Tahoe Community College graduated its largest class in history Friday evening, with more than 200 students participating in the ceremony and crossing the stage at Coyote Country Field. The college conferred 422 degrees and more than 200 certificates, a new institutional record. The ceremony also marked the 10th and final commencement for outgoing Superintendent/President Jeff DeFranco, who is departing LTCC after nearly a decade of leadership.

For Student Trustee Hudson Conners, the milestone arrived after three years that included LTCC’s inaugural cross-country team, two years living in off-campus student housing, a year in the college’s new on-campus residence hall, and an inaugural year as a resident advisor. Reflecting on what carried him to the stage, Conners told classmates that consistency, not talent, had been the deciding factor.

“Consistency is not only the philosophy of showing up daily, but showing up happy, sad, passive, and indifferent, everything in between those,” Conners said. “Being a consistent individual can be the bridge that leads you to your aspirations and can open doors to all that you desire, but it takes tenacity to keep with it.”

The Lake Tahoe College Promise Program graduated 95 students, its largest graduating cohort to date, while now serving 346 active students, the highest enrollment in the program’s history. LTCC’s Reconnect to Complete program, which helps adults who left college without finishing a degree re-enroll and complete their education, graduated 40 students this year. 

Keynote speaker Darcie Goodman Collins, CEO of Keep Tahoe Blue, in her “Start Here. Dream Big.” speech, urged graduates to treat their ambitions as a series of small, attainable steps rather than a single leap. Goodman Collins, who grew up in South Lake Tahoe and got her start as a Keep Tahoe Blue summer intern in 1996, traced her own path from a childhood dream of marine biology to leading the organization she once interned for.

“Goals are really just dreams in bite-sized pieces, because dreams can be intimidating and overwhelming unless you break them down into small chunks,” Goodman Collins said. “If you take bite-sized chunks and set incremental goals, you can get to the end of the line.”

DeFranco, who is stepping down after 10 commencements and nearly a decade as president, told graduates the Class of 2026 had left a mark on the college, and on him personally.

“Look at this graduating class. Once again, it’s the largest graduating class in LTCC history,” DeFranco said. “All of you are the living proof of the power of following a dream. This college had a dream, and you now represent that reality.”

The Class of 2026 included a record 91 graduates from LTCC’s Rising Scholars Program, which serves currently and formerly incarcerated students, earning 176 degrees across forestry, social science, and sociology, along with 41 certificates of achievement in forestry. The cohort includes some of the first students in California to earn an Associate of Science in Forestry while incarcerated, a milestone built on the program’s partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and CAL FIRE.

The graduates were celebrated the previous evening at the Rising Scholars Program Graduation Awards Dinner, the final such event for Shane Reynolds in his role as the program’s director. Reynolds told graduates that the record-setting class reflected years of work by students and staff alike.

“Nobody in this program got here alone,” Reynolds said. “And nobody here graduates alone.”

The LTCC commencement ceremony concluded with Conners leading his classmates in turning their tassels.

“LTCC graduates, your dreams are within reach,” Conners told the crowd. “Your future is full of opportunity, purpose, and promise. You did it.”

For more information on enrolling at LTCC, visit ltcc.edu/grad.