HVCC SENDS OFF 2,058 GRADUATES
TROY >> Mother Nature hit a home run by delivering blue skies and beautiful spring sunshine for the 62nd Hudson Valley Community College commencement at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium on Saturday.
For many of the 2,058 graduates, the event was a family affair as numerous brothers and sisters, parents and children, and even one couple received their degrees at the same time.
Guest speaker U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, reminded students that family is an important gift as he reflected about the pride he felt at his own daughter’s graduation.
Also, today’s high-tech world also presents boundless opportunity for young people. Only 20 years ago, terms such as email, texting and hashtag weren’t part of most people’s vocabulary, he said.
“You are the first generation to grow up amidst all this technology,” Schumer said. “In 1994, the worldwide web had 13 websites on it. Now it has one billion. That shows how technology is changing this world.”
“Now is the time if ever there was one to figure out what your dream is, then reach real high for it,” he said. “Go for it! It is my hope, my prayer, my confidence that you will use these gifts wisely and reach for your dreams.”
Schumer helped secure federal funding for a new advanced manufacturing facility at HVCC and also sponsored legislation that provides $2,500 tax credits to middle-classs college students
from families with income less than $200,000.
“What if you come from a family that makes above $200,000? God bless you,” he joked. Almost 80 percent of graduates come from the Capital Region including Student Senate Vice President Bryce Kirk, who went to Averill Park High School. He’s planning to attend SUNY Binghamton in the fall, but felt he made the right decision by starting out at a two-
year school.
“In high school I was more active in sports,” Kirk said. “Coming here gave me a great opportunity to join different clubs and have leadership roles. This is a great day. I makes me feel like all the long hours and hard work were worth it.”
Kirk’s father, Steve, said he couldn’t be prouder.
“I told Bryce last night he gave me a bigger gift than I could ever give my father,” he said.
Bryce actually graduated ahead of his mother, Mavis, who is pursuing an accounting certificate and hopes to complete her studies in December. International students represented 33 foreign nations including Albania, Ethiopia and Thailand.
Students in a construction trades program wore green hard hats to the ceremony in place of mortar boards. Girls who took dental studies marched into the stadium carrying giant sized make-believe tubes of toothpaste and toothbrushes. One of the ceremony’s most poignant moments was a tribute paid to Kayla Marie Urrey of Middleburgh, a an evening nursing program student who passed away in March from a rare blood disorder.
“She wanted to build a future for herself and her young son, Mikey,” college President Drew Matonak said. “She worked hard, extremely hard, to make that dream come true.”
He presented Kayla’s diploma to her parents, Jennifer and Dale; her brother, Ryan; and son, Mikey.
This year’s graduates ranged in age from 16 to 70. Also, 94 are either veterans or still in the military.
Matonak praised those who overcame adversity to earn their degrees including physical and emotional disabilities and difficult socio-eonomic backgrounds.
“So many of you are fighters, overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve success,” he said.