The resounding message delivered to the SUNY Old Westbury Class of 2019 was that graduates with perseverance and passion can make the world a better place for all of humankind. The 53rd Commencement Ceremony, which took place on May 18, 2019, honored more than 1,100 graduates – one of the largest in the history of the College.
During the ceremony, Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle, president of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (pictured), quoted during his Commencement address from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and then said: “The road to be a public school teacher in New York City or elsewhere, or a physician in a rural community, or a nonprofit group leader seeking to remedy results of extreme and concentrated poverty, those roads are not so crowded … There are other roads less traveled. They don’t produce as much money, they don’t produce as much fame, but they can be the most important roads that you ever take. There are roads that are desperately, badly needed. And I invite you in the class of 2019 to find one.
The Class of 2019 were also addressed during the ceremony by New York State Senator James Gaughran, SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer Teri Miller, and Old Westbury Faculty Senate Chair Andrew Mattson.
Along with the awarding of degrees, Commencement included recognition of the winner of the SUNY Old Westbury President’s Medal for Scholarship Evan Rufrano and the recipients of the 2019 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, Rufrano, Gissel Marquez, and Josselin Paz Torres.
“Remember that Commencement marks only the completion of one stage of your preparation for the future so you can face the new challenges of our global society,” said College President Calvin O. Butts, III to the graduates. “I know that Old Westbury has prepared you to think critically about the world and to take into account all those who love with and around you.”
View photos from the College's 53rd Commencement ceremonies in the SUNY Old Westbury online photo album.