More than 10,000 high school students and students in alternative programs are graduating and receiving diplomas from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) this spring. Thirty-one schools and programs have scheduled graduation ceremonies through June 14. Popular student choices for speaker include accomplished alumni, educators, journalists, elected officials, business leaders and sports figures.

Some highlights from the list of speakers include:

· Dan Jansen, 1994 Olympic gold medalist in speed skating, will speak at Thomas S. Wootton High School.

· Helen Thomas, member of the White House press corps, is the speaker at Walt Whitman High School.

· Nationally syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson (Ask Amy) is the graduation speaker at Gaithersburg High School.

· Among the speakers who will address graduates of their alma mater are Brian Stelter, New York Times reporter (Damascus High School); Frederick Paraskevoudakis, science professor at Baltimore City Community College (Magruder High School); drummer Allison Miller (Sherwood High School); John Harwood, chief Washington correspondent for CNBC (Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School); Preston Padden, Walt Disney Company executive vice president (Walter Johnson High School), and Jason Gerard Green, deputy associate counsel to the President of the United States (Quince Orchard High School).

· Classroom teachers chosen as graduation speakers are Katherine Loughney, English teacher at Poolesville High School; Scott Bayer and Shane Stroup, teachers at Wheaton High School; Adam Schwartz, social studies teacher at Watkins Mill High School; Michael Oakes, English teacher at Clarksburg High School; and Amber Smith, teacher at Longview School.

A complete list of high school graduation ceremonies and the featured speaker at each school can be found at http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/graduation/