Fall Commencement at Florida Tech Set for Dec. 13
More Than 900 Graduates Expected to Walk in Two Ceremonies
Florida Tech’s Fall 2025 commencement is happening Saturday, Dec. 13 at the Clemente Center. United Airlines pilot, humanitarian and Florida Tech alum Miguel Estremera will offer the keynote address.
Florida Tech President John Nicklow will present Board of Trustees member and past chair Travis Proctor ’98 with the President’s Medal during the day’s first ceremony at 9:30 a.m., which will feature candidates for graduation from the College of Engineering and Science and the Bisk College of Business.
A second ceremony begins at 2 p.m. and will feature candidates for graduation from the College of Aeronautics and the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts.
The university will bestow 1,173 degrees to 1,139 candidates, including 34 multiple-degree recipients. Nearly 900 will participate in the ceremonies. The graduates hail from 65 countries and all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Nicklow will offer welcome remarks and Estremera will speak at both ceremonies.
A 1998 graduate from Florida Tech with a degree in aviation management with flight, the Puerto Rico native and Massachusetts resident has been making his mark in and out of the aviation industry for nearly 30 years.
Currently a pilot with over 18,000 flight hours flying for United Airlines out of Newark-Liberty International Airport, Estremera flies various models of the Boeing 757 and 767. He held several positions in the aviation industry following graduation, including as a cargo pilot and a flight attendant with US Airways.
Then in 2001 his airline flying career kicked off with Continental Express, and later at Chicago Express Airlines. In 2007, he was hired by Continental Airlines, which went on to merge with United Airlines.
Outside of the flight deck, Estremera’s roots in the community run deep. He worked as a public-school teacher and continues to volunteer in the community and is involved in the Florida Tech College of Aeronautics Alumni Association, Latino Pilots Association and PALS (Patient Airlift Services).
It was in conjunction with PALS and with the help of fellow Florida Tech alumni, the College of Aeronautics and students that Estremera was able to coordinate the transportation of relief supplies and evacuations of newly homeless from his home country after the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
“Florida Tech is a village, it is a community,” he said at the time. “It’s incredible.”
Both ceremonies will be livestreamed at www.fit.edu/commencement-stream/.
