Saturday is a special day for thousands of UCF students who walked across the stage for graduation.
- UCF President's last graduations before retiring
- John Hitt led university for 26 years
- Hitt to officially retire on July 30
Today starts a new chapter for the graduating students and the University President John Hitt.
What makes Saturday's ceremony even more special, is this will be the last time President Hitt will attend the ceremonies before he retires.
Hit has led the university for 26 years, and in that time he's handed out more than 340,000 thousands degrees.
He has taken UCF from a commuter school to being the largest university in the country.
When he took on the role as president, Dr. Hitt established five key goals to develop UCF into the university it is today. Among those goals was achieving international prominence in key programs of graduate study and research.
By doing so, the university has attracted students who are changing the world, like UCF student Jaha Dukureh who is among the newest graduates.
Dukureh is a Nobel Peace prize nominee, and is internationally known for her activism and work to end the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, which she suffered when she was just one week old.
Dr. Hitt's retirement doesn't officially begin until June 30th.