LOCH SHELDRAKE – Gwenneth Redman’s graduation marked a first for SUNY Sullivan. 

As salutatorian of the Class of 2026, Redman followed Valedictorian Abigail Parucki across the stage of the college’s 62nd commencement ceremony. Hers was the second degree awarded by the college this year.

It was the first degree SUNY Sullivan has bestowed on a high school student who’d yet to graduate from high school. 

Redman is a senior at Tri-Valley who’s set to graduate from the district in June, and she was one of several local high school students granted associate’s degrees last Thursday. 

“It’s incredible,” Eldred senior Alyena Galvin-Bliefernich said of graduating from college before high school. Heading to SUNY Oneonta in the fall to study fashion, Galvin-Bliefernich said she’ll enter her bachelor’s two full years ahead of her peers, and with that comes substantial cost savings. 

Shaving those two years off of her higher education journey represents thousands of dollars of student debt she’ll be able to avoid. 

“That really set me up,” Galvin-Bliefernich added. “I’ve got the whole world ahead of me.” 

SUNY Sullivan has been preparing the graduates for that world, Town of Fremont resident Parucki explained in her valedictory speech. 

“It was a place where we learned how to manage responsibility, how to grow under pressure, and how to keep moving forward even when things felt overwhelming,” she noted before imparting a final piece of wisdom on her classmates. “You are capable of more than you think.”