Some 1,300 graduated from Raritan Valley Community College on Saturday, May 14, 2016.
BRANCHBURG - Raritan Valley Community College awarded associate degrees and certificates to close to 1,300 graduates at its commencement held Saturday on the college's soccer field.
Gemar Mills, the principal of Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark delivered the commencement address and received an honorary degree during the ceremony. Mills' education reforms helped to improve student testing scores, create a safer school environment and motivate students to believe in themselves, according to a news release.
Dr. Paul J. Hirsch, a member of the college's board of trustees and former chairman of the board, also received an honorary degree. A member of the trustees board since 1986, Hirsch served as chairman from 2008-2011 and again from 2013-2015. He also has served as a vice chairman from Somerset County.
The program featured student commencement speaker Shawn Rumrill of Flemington, who came to the college with his two sisters in the fall of 2013 after earning a high school diploma through Kolbe Academy's homeschool program.
In September, Rumrill plans to attend The College of New Jersey to study Biology and Chemistry and eventually hopes to pursue a career in molecular biology and genetics.
Meet the N.J. triplets graduating from RVCC
Alexa Offenhauer of Clinton, a Raritan Valley Community College instructor of English, delivered the faculty address. A New Jersey native, she received a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University and a Master's Degree from Western Carolina University. She is currently a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University, studying reading theory and its place in the composition classroom.
A complete list of the graduates is available online.
Other graduates speaking during commencement included Angela Bamford, Cesar Akeem Clarke and Melanye Nunez.
Bamford of Bedminster, a former resident of Milford, is receiving a degree in Communication Studies. She is graduating Magna Cum Laude.
One of 10 children, Bamford came to the US from Ghana in 2013 as an exchange student. She has been extremely active on campus, serving as president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and as a Student Ambassador.
Bamford also has been involved with such campus groups as Rotaract, Sister to Sister, the campus radio station and The Record student newspaper. She has been accepted by Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Syracuse University.
Clarke, a resident of Franklin, is majoring in General Science/Pre-Health Professional and eventually plans to attend medical school. He is graduating Summa Cum Laude. Clarke moved to the US from Jamaica in 2013.
He is a Galileo Scholar, a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and is the Student Government Association representative to the United Caribbean Club. He has been accepted at several four-year schools, including Drexel University and Rutgers University.
Manville resident Nunez is a Social Science major. The daughter of parents who immigrated to the US from Costa Rica, she is the first in her family to attend college. Nunez has been active on campus as a Student Ambassador, a Senator in the Student Government Association, co-chair of the Campus Diversity Committee, and a Senator with Orgullo Latino Club.
She will be transferring to Drew University this fall to study Comparative Religion and Women & Gender Studies.
Under Hirsch's leadership, Raritan Valley Community College made a number of significant advancements including opening the Ray Bateman Center for Student Life and Leadership; selecting Dr. Michael J. McDonough as the College's eighth president; becoming the first community college in the country to sign an environmental stewardship agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and breaking ground on the expansion of the Christine Todd Whitman Science Center and a new Workforce Training Center that will house career and technical programs designed in partnership with local industry.
Hirsch is an orthopaedic surgeon in Bridgewater and clinical professor of orthopaedics at Seton Hall School of Graduate Medical Education. He is vice chairman of the board of directors of MDAdvantage Insurance Company, where he is also chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee and member of the Audit Committee. He is also chairman of MDAdvantage Finance Company.
Additionally, he is chairman of the Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Foundation and serves on the Editorial Board of MDAdvisor Journal.