Lake-Sumter State College is proud to announce the speakers for their 58th Commencement exercises held on Friday, May 4.
For the first time, LSSC will host both a morning ceremony at the Everett A. Kelly Convocation Center in Leesburg
and an afternoon ceremony at the Arts & Recreation Center in Clermont.
The morning ceremony’s Commencement Speaker will be Kay Rawlins, founder and vice president of community
relations for the Orlando City Soccer Club. Dave Green, chief executive officer of Feeding Children Everywhere,
will speak at the afternoon ceremony.
“I am pleased to welcome both of these Central Florida leaders to our ceremonies,” said LSSC President Stanley
Sidor. “Kay and Dave both have a bold vision for serving our communities and solving some of society’s greatest
challenges. I look forward to their messages that I know will inspire our graduates to expand their horizons.”
Over the last seven years, as one of the founders of Orlando City, Kay Rawlins has been involved in the team’s first
Major League Soccer season in 2015, the addition of a women’s team in 2016, and the opening of the new
downtown stadium in 2017. She leads the Orlando City Foundation and serves on a number of community
councils and boards, including the Central Florida Foundation and the Commission on Homelessness, where she
leads the Youth Homelessness Committee. Kay was awarded 2016 Businesswoman of the Year by the Orlando
Business Journal.
Dave Green was recently awarded the Central Floridian of the Year award for his leadership at Feeding Children
Everywhere, a global nonprofit working to activate people for a hunger-free world. Through high-energy
volunteer experiences at Hunger Projects, groups of volunteer prepare meals for distribution both domestically
and internationally. Over the past year, Dave has lead major initiatives for disaster relief in the wake of 2017’s
devastating hurricanes. These projects included mobilizing thousands of volunteers in Atlanta for Hurricane
Harvey and over 54,000 Orlando Cares volunteers, which sent 4.4 million meals to Puerto Rico after Hurricane
Maria.
Nearly 500 LSSC students will graduate this Spring, and over 300 students will participate in the Commencement
exercises. Due to limited seating, the ceremonies are a ticketed event for friends and family of the graduates.
The morning ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. in the Everett A. Kelly Convocation Center on the Leesburg
Campus at 9501 U.S. Hwy 441, Leesburg, FL 34788. The afternoon ceremony in Clermont will begin at 4 p.m. at
the Arts & Recreation Center located at 3700 S Hwy 27, Clermont, FL 34711.
Ceremonies will broadcast live on Lake Sumter TV – Comcast 13, Spectrum 498, CenturyLink Prism 83 and
LakeSumterTV.com.