Bronx Community College’s 49th graduating class celebrated its commencement ceremony Friday, May 29 in front of 3,000 proud friends and family members.
The commencement, which usually takes place in the campus quadrangle, was moved to Ohio Field, the campus recreational field. The move was meant to make way for construction on the new $102 million, 98,000 square foot North and Instructional Building and Library.
Tuskegee Airman and former Bronx Community College president, Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. was one of many speakers, and reminded graduates of their duty to help others in their lifetime, “When you go to bed today and future days, look in the mirror and ask yourself, did I do something for other people.”
Other speakers included Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., State Senator Pedro Espada, Congressman Jose E. Serrano, and U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, who announced the recent passage of a tax exemption deduction of $2,500 for those who pay college tuition and make under $200,000 a year.
In total there were 1,000 graduates present at the ceremony. Denise Comara and Amy Bryant were two graduates who received special recognition for being named valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. Comara is enrolled at Lehman College, and looks to pursue a degree in social work, while Bryant aspires to be a professional artist.
BCC students complete their associate’s degrees, usually on their way to four-year institutions.
President Carolyn G. Williams concluded the commencement ceremony with a speech in which she left the graduates with a quote from the great American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”
After receiving diplomas, all the newly minted graduates cheered and walked off Ohio field to start on their own paths of achievement.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.