North Idaho College graduates 876 students, highlights adult learner story
NIC graduated 876 students, including Mallorie Flynn of Kellogg, who finished an English degree after raising eight children.
North Idaho College sent 876 students into graduation day this year, and one of the clearest faces of that class was Mallorie Flynn, a 39-year-old Kellogg mother of eight who completed an English degree after years focused on raising her children.
NIC held two commencement ceremonies Friday, May 15, 2026, at the Schuler Performing Arts Center in Boswell Hall. The 10 a.m. ceremony included candidates for academic certificates and A.A. and A.S. degrees, excluding dual credit students. The 1 p.m. ceremony covered dual credit, health professions and technical-program candidates, underscoring the college’s role as one of Kootenai County’s main workforce-training pipelines. Each ceremony was expected to last about 1.5 hours.
The college said each graduate received four guest tickets. Families without seats were directed to Todd Lecture Hall or the NIC YouTube channel, and students and employees who were not attending were invited to line Garden Avenue and cheer as graduates walked by. NIC also said the class of 2026 included students who finished requirements in the previous fall semester, the current spring semester or the upcoming summer session, widening the group beyond a single term’s completers.
Flynn’s story gave the day its sharpest human detail. She said the milestone felt surreal after spending much of her adult life putting motherhood first. Her eight children range in age from 7 to 18, and her degree showed how NIC continues to serve adults who return to school long after their first chance at college has passed. For local employers, that matters as much as the ceremony itself: NIC is not just sending out recent high school graduates, but also parents, working adults and students moving directly into health care, technical fields and transfer programs.
Commencement speaker Jason Droesch also reflected NIC’s homegrown pipeline. Droesch, a North Idaho College mathematics professor and NIC graduate, has taught at the college since 2013. He served as division chair for Math, Computer Science and Engineering from 2016 to 2022, and NIC said he helped establish the Math Education Center and expand the computer science partnership with the University of Idaho. In a county where higher education, hiring and retention are tightly linked, the 876-degree class signaled steady demand for NIC’s credentials and a broader measure of momentum for the college’s future.
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