SARANAC LAKE — North Country Community College and Paul Smith’s College will both hold their commencement ceremonies today.

For NCCC, it is the 56th annual commencement, which begins at 11 a.m. at the Sparks Athletic Complex on the Saranac Lake campus. NCCC has facilities in Saranac Lake, Ticonderoga and Malone and offers classes at Akwesasne. The procession will begin at 10:45 a.m. at the Connector.

Linda McClarigan will be the NCCC commencement speaker. She is a NCCC graduate with over 50 years of experience in nursing and 16 years as a senior executive. She received degrees from NCCC, SUNY Plattsburgh and the California College of Health Sciences and a Nurse Executive certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She and her husband Brian have lived in the Adirondack region for more than 30 years. She retired in 2019.

McClarigan is a five-time published author along with several colleagues for several articles on shared governance, patient satisfaction and the journey to pathway excellence and is a well-known speaker for several nursing organizations. She was awarded the New York State Organization of Nurse Executives Northeast Region trophy and was the first nurse to receive the Dr. Edward Trudeau award at Adirondack Heath.

The NCCC commencement will be livestreamed. For the link, visit www.nccc.edu/about/commencement.

At Paul Smith’s College, the commencement ceremony will start at 11 a.m. on the Grand Lawn. The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. will be the commencement speaker.

Yearwood is the president and CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, a minister, environmental community activist and a U.S. Air Force veteran. He will also witness his child graduating from Paul Smith’s College, making him “the proudest parent in the world.”

A livestream of the Paul Smith’s College commencement will be available through Good Guy Productions at https://video.ibm.com/channel/qejSeUtnW9G.