Rachel Richards was the student speaker
MIDDLETOWN – A record number of graduates participated in the annual commencement ceremony of SUNY Orange at the Middletown campus on Thursday evening.
An estimated 527 graduates, the largest number in the college’s 68-year history, received their two-year degrees.
“This thing we call higher education is a people business, a relationship business,’ said college President Dr. Kristine Young. “The great power of education is that it can change people’s lives. You, too, can be influencers. Many of you already are.”
One student graduated with perfect 4.0 grade point average (Daniel Kall). Five graduates had their degrees presented to them by a parent or relative who works at the college: Emma Paradies (mother Dr. Michele Paradies, professor of biology), Brianna Worden (father William, adjunct professor of criminal justice), Andres Salgado (uncle Fred Watson, SUNY Orange Trustee), Rommel Sankhi (father Sonny, security guard), and Peter Jahn (father Walter, professor of biology). Nineteen students graduated from the college’s Honors Program, three students earned the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence (Reuben Buck, Renita Johnson, Emma Paradies).
A total of 110 graduates completed their degree programs entirely at the Newburgh campus and 17 students comprised the first graduates from the Excelsior Academy (the collaborative P-TECH program at Newburgh North High School in partnership by SUNY Orange and IBM).
The rain ended in time for an outdoor ceremony on the Alumni Green
