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Clayton Muhammad
Clayton Muhammad, Director of Communications at the City of Aurora, will serve as the keynote speaker at Waubonsee Community College’s 2025 Commencement ceremonies.

Waubonsee Community College will celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2025 with commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 17, at the college’s Sugar Grove Campus Field House. Ceremonies will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and tickets are required.

At Waubonsee, 986 individuals have earned degrees during the 2024-2025 academic year. Fifty-five students earned Presidential Honors of a 4.0 grade point average (GPA) and 307 earned Academic Honors of a GPA between 3.5 and 3.9. The average GPA of this group of students is 3.23; a tremendous collective accomplishment.

This year’s commencement speaker will be Clayton Muhammad, Director of Communications at the City of Aurora. An award-winning public relations professional, Muhammed has been affectionately dubbed "The Voice of Aurora." His deep roots in the city, where he was born and raised, are evident in his decade-long service as spokesman and his role as host/emcee at over 1,000 events over the past 25 years. 

As a former educator, Muhammad's leadership was instrumental in his decade-long tenure as the spokesman of East Aurora School District 131. His efforts led to the successful passage of a $32 million referendum. In 2002, after a summer of violence in Aurora, Muhammad founded Boys II Men, Inc. This leadership development initiative has graduated hundreds of young men who have gone on to college, have had successful careers, and have held elected offices, including City of Aurora aldermen and Aurora Township trustees. Muhammad attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lewis University, and has been a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at schools, colleges, universities, churches, and at local, regional, and national conferences. He is the recipient of more than 100 awards and recognitions, including the Mentor of the Year Award presented by Aur-City United, a group of hip-hop artists in Aurora, the City of Aurora's African American Leader of the Year Award, the Kane County Citizen of the Year Award, the Central Region Community Service Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and the Midwest Community Leader of the Year Award presented by his beloved Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

The 57th commencement ceremonies will be led by Faculty Marshal Kathleen Randall, Professor of Education, and Student Marshal Mark Price, Student Senate President 2024-2025.

Friends, family members, and community members who do not have a ticket or are otherwise unable to attend commencement can tune into the ceremonies via the college’s live stream, presented in English and Spanish, which will begin just before each ceremony.

For more information about commencement, visit waubonsee.edu/graduation.