SUNY Jamestown Community College has named student speakers for its spring 2026 commencement ceremonies.
Alexandria Goodyear will address fellow graduates during the Cattaraugus County Campus ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, May 15, in the Olean YMCA, and Miguel Cocerez will speak during the Jamestown Campus ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, in the Physical Education Complex.
Goodyear is a Nursing program major who carries a perfect 4.0 GPA. A Hinsdale, New York native, she began taking JCC courses while still in high school through a program for students pursuing careers in healthcare and has remained deeply involved with the college since.
In addition to her full-time course load, Goodyear works as a tutor in the Learning Commons and holds an outside job. She also served as president of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society's Cattaraugus County Campus Chapter.
Goodyear is a recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, which is among the most prestigious honors bestowed by SUNY. She was also selected to the All-USA Academic Team, one of the most competitive national honors for community college students.
Beth Lisi, Coordinator of the Cattaraugus County Learning Center, praised Goodyear’s nomination.
“She is confident, self-motivated, and driven,” Lisi said. “She is very analytical and that carries over to tutoring. She uses her insight to figure out how to best help students. She works very hard and has earned all of her accolades."
A Health Information Technology major from Buffalo, New York, Cocerez achieved a 3.97 GPA after returning to the classroom for the first time in 20 years. A December graduate, he came to JCC after a career shift into healthcare sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. That experience helped him discover a passion for supporting people through compassion and kindness.
Cocerez completed his studies entirely online while continuing to work, and credits JCC’s commitment to flexible, student-centered learning for making his return to education possible.
He hopes to represent students who have faced hardship and self-doubt, drawing on his background growing up in a large Latino family where opportunities sometimes felt out of reach.
Cocerez is a recipient of the HIT Award, voted unanimously by the Health Information Technology faculty.
Assistant professor Krysta Rives endorsed Cocerez’s nomination, saying: “Miguel is an extremely professional and hardworking student."