Hudson County Community College Names Class of 2026 Valedictorian

Hudson County Community College announced that Marlon Peña Crespo has been named the Class of 2026 Valedictorian. He will address graduates at HCCC’s 49th Annual Commencement on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison.

Peña Crespo is completing an Associate in Science degree in Computer Science with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. He is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and a semifinalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, a nationally competitive award for community college students transferring to four-year institutions.

According to HCCC, Peña Crespo “navigated a new educational system after arriving in the United States from Cuba, transforming that challenge into academic excellence and a commitment to using technology for social impact.”

Earlier this year, he completed the first cohort of the AI for Impact New Jersey Community College Fellowship as a Product Management Intern, selected from a pool of 89 candidates. During the program, he built a bilingual tool to map local resources and a chatbot to help immigrant communities navigate social services in real time.

The HCCC Class of 2026 includes more than 1,600 students, the largest graduating class in the college’s history. Commencement begins at 9:30 a.m. on May 19 at Sports Illustrated Stadium.