DeKalb Technical College held its 2010 commencement ceremony at Mount Carmel Christian Church in Stone Mountain July 17 as 991 students qualified to receive either their Associates of Applied Science Degree or their diploma.

Around 300 students took part in the graduation ceremony and a total of 1,280 awards were conferred on DeKalb Tech's class of 2010. Some graduates received two degrees. DeKalb Tech's graduates reportedly have more than a 98% job placement rate.

Georgia's Labor Commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Thurmond delivered the commencement address. "These are hard times, but these are not hopeless times," he told the crowd. "As I speak there are 500,000 Georgians who are unemployed. As I speak there are 15,000,000 Americans who are unemployed." As today's graduates enter an uncertain job market, Thurmond gave words of optimism. "America will emerge from this recession, not as it went in, but we're going to emerge a greater nation than when the recession began," said Thurmond.

A Georgia native, Thurmond is the current and first African American to be elected Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor. While in this post he instituted the successful "Workfirst" program which, according to published reports, helped over 90,000 Georgians find employment. Thurmond is also running for the U.S. Senate in the 2010 election.

DeKalb Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, has 8 centers of learning in DeKalb, Newton, Rockdale, and Morgan counties. Established in 1961, DeKalb Technical College currently has more than 4,000 students enrolled in diploma or degree programs and more than 9,000 in adult education classes. For more information visit www.dekalbtech.edu.