32 THE QUEENS COURIER • GRADUATION • JUNE 14, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
graduation
LaGuardia prez assures graduates ‘a brighter future lies ahead’
More than 1,600 New Yorkers celebrated
earning their associate’s degrees
at LaGuardia Community College’s 46th
Commencement Ceremony, held on
June 5 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“A brighter future lies ahead for today’s
graduates,” said LaGuardia Community
College President Gail O. Mellow. “Many
have dealt with signifi cant obstacles
along the way. For some, earning a college
degree may have seemed impossible.
Th eir graduation is a testament to
their resilience and fortitude. Our ceremony
today aimed to help them see that
their achievement marks how far they’ve
come, and that they’re ready for the next
step in their education or professional
career.”
Lifetime earnings increase more than
$400,000 for students with an associate’s
degree. Ninety-three percent of graduates
from the Long Island City-based
school have no student loan debt. And
a Stanford University study of economic
mobility of U.S. colleges — that is, the
ability of a college to move low-income
people to the middle class and beyond —
ranked LaGuardia No. 5 among all twoyear
colleges nationwide. LaGuardia students
are 35 percent more likely to transfer
to a four-year college than community
college students nationally.
LaGuardia graduates earned an associate’s
degree in one of the 60 majors
off ered at the college, ranging from
accounting, commercial photography,
computer science, criminal justice, deaf
studies, engineering, nursing and new
media technology.
A majority (71 percent) of LaGuardia
Community College’s approx. 50,000 students
have family incomes of less than
$30,000 per year. Th ey come from 150
countries and speak 96 native languages.
Forty-two percent are age 23 or older.
Some are parents (who can oft en be
seen dropping off young children at our
on-campus daycare). Th irty-six percent
came in as transfer students, meaning
that they had some college credits —
some started their college journey at a
four-year college, but dropped out due
to fi nancial pressures or family setbacks,
while others came to LaGuardia to pursue
an associate’s degree in a diff erent
fi eld than their bachelor’s.
Many relied on LaGuardia’s extensive
support services — from advisers that
keep them on track academically, staff
ready to help them navigate the maze of
fi nancial aid and apply to scholarships,
and counselors that help them sign up for
public benefi ts and access the on-campus
food pantry.
Shaun King, a prominent voice within
the Black Lives Matter movement,
gave the keynote address to the audience
of 10,000 comprised of graduates’ family
and friends, LaGuardia leadership, faculty,
staff and representatives from the
Board of Trustees of Th e City University
of New York.
“LaGuardia Community College’s
Class of 2018 graduates have reached an
important fi nish line, but are also at an
important starting point,” King said. “I
encouraged them to seek out opportunities
to talk about their community college
experience and to tell their stories of overcoming
obstacles — in order to remind
others of the importance of broad access
to higher education to achieve social justice,
and to motivate other young people,
particularly low-income and underserved
communities, thinking about making the
leap to enrolling in college. With their
accessibility and aff ordability, community
colleges like LaGuardia help support the
real empowerment and liberation of historically
disadvantaged groups.”
Courtesy LaGuardia Community
College
Best of the Class of 2018
St. John’s Preparatory
School, Astoria
Name: Bertrand Topczylko
Neighborhood: Glendale
GPA: 100%
College/University: Vassar
College
St. Agnes Academic High
School, College Point
Name: Briana Stephenson
GPA: 100.03
College: Molloy College
Major: Marketing
Archbishop Molloy High
School, Briarwood
Name: Andrew Soltesz
Neighborhood: Astoria
Parish: St. Francis of Assisi
College/University: Peter J.
Tobin College of Business at St.
John’s University
Christ the King High
School, Middle Village
Name: Matthew Vincent
Pezzulich
Neighborhood: Franklin Square
Plans after graduation: Attending
Adelphi University’s Honors College
Anticipated major: Theatre
Design/Tech
GPA: 101.64
Cathedral Preparatory
Seminary, Elmhurst
Name: Sebastian Adrian Rosas
Neighborhood: Far Rockaway,
Queens
GPA: 98.83 cumulative on 100
point scale
College/University he or she
will be attending: University of
Notre Dame - Full Scholarship