Student Speaker for Commencement Joins The Podcast

She recently received a call from the SUNY Chancellor who wanted to congratulate her on her accomplishments. And earlier this week she visited the Onondaga County Legislature and shared her success story with lawmakers.

It's been quite a month for Melissa Duran! It will continue this Saturday when she receives her Surgical Technology degree and is the Student Speaker at Onondaga Community College's Commencement. She's the star of the latest edition of our podcast, "Chatting About College."

Duran is a native of Ecuador who immigrated to the United States with the dream of becoming a surgeon. During her time at OCC she earned membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and was also a Meg O'Connell Scholar. She shared her knowledge at the Learning Center where she tutored fellow students in Medical Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology 1, and Spanish 1 and 2. She was also part of the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) which connected her with a research opportunity at Syracuse University.

Duran recently took time out of her busy schedule to join us for a conversation on our podcast, "Chatting About College." She was joined by Colleen Stevens, Director of CSTEP who nominated Duran to be commencement speaker. You can listen to the podcast by clicking on this link. You can also find it at places like iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you download podcasts.