Optimism Abounds as FDU Students Graduate

EAST RUTHERFORD — Outside may have been pouring rain, but the future looked bright inside the Izod Center on Tuesday in the Meadowlands.

Years of hard work paid off for 3,100 students who finally donned their caps and gowns and made the transition college students to college graduates.

“It’s a rite of transition and rites of transition are so rare because a rite of transition is when one moment you view yourself one way and the next moment you have changed,” said FDU President J. Michael Adams. “When students walk across the stage, and move that tassel, they are different people and they view the world differently.”

In his remarks, Adams set the tone of the ceremonies telling students, “you have inherited a complex world, one that is rapidly changing and growing more interconnected. To succeed today, you must be aware of global issues.”

Class of 2011 gradudates was made up of 47 countries, including 28 states, and all 21 counties in New Jersey who earned doctoral, masters, bachelors and associate degrees. The ceremony was an integrated affair, bringing together graduates from the University's Metropolitan, College at Florham, and FDU-Vancouver campuses. 

For FDU Vancouver, it was just the second graduating class, with 14 students from the Canadian city attending the ceremony, including one of the university's Pinnacle Award winners, Juan Pedro Zuleta.

"I was a tough road to get here but it’s worth it," said Zuleta, who received his bachelor of science from the Silberman College of Business. "A lot of studying, a lot of determination and discipline."

The Pinnacle Award is the highest honor the university bestows a graduate student. Pinnacle recipients must demonstrate academic excellence, public service and commitment to the university to be honored.

Another Pinnacle Award recipient, Michelle Holzwarth Hagen, who hails from Berlin and attended the Metropolitan campus in Teaneck, said she came to FDU with eyes wide open to new opportunities in a new country on an athletic scholarship.

"I came here to play golf," Hagen said. "I did not have any idea of the opportunities here but along the road, being on campus and experiencing all the different cultures, slowly I got something out of myself and I developed with FDU, and through a FDU global education and became what I am today.” Hagen graduated with a bachelors degree in business management.

The third Pinnacle Award recipient was Beatrice Markiewicz, attended classes at the Florham campus. Markiewicz received her bachelors of science in chemistry.

When asked if the road to her award was  a difficult one she didn't hesitate to say, "yes!" Regardless of major area of study, “It takes a lot of dedication and consistency to achieve something,” Markiewicz said. “You definitely have to stay with what you do. I was in the honors program also and it took a lot of my time.”

The global emphasis introduced earlier by Adams was brought into domestic relevance by New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, who was bestowed with an honorary degree in Humane Letters. 

“Right now I see another great generation developing,” Lautenberg said via a pre-recorded video message. “The future of America looks very good. The leadership we have now in our presidency suggests that we are rebuilding. I say step forward with confidence and know that there is opportunity out there and that it’s up to you to maximize that opportunity with your education.”

One student who was already apparently listening to that advice was Blaire Darby Lorenz, who graduated summa cum laude in the University Honors Program.

"Any kind of struggle that you may have or doubts that you may have,” Lorenz said. “If you really have a passion coming into college, you can achieve it as long as you put your mind to it."

Lorenz, who attended the Florham Park campus and earned her bachelors in science with a major in biology. She said she enrolled in the dentistry program University of Maryland for the fall.