‘Many Reasons to Cheer’

Eruptions of joy rang out in enthusiastic waves that rolled through five Rutgers University–Camden ceremonies held for graduates on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I love you, and I’m so proud of you,” a Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden graduate’s mother called out to her daughter as the procession of nursing graduates in resplendent red gowns moved down the aisle through a standing audience of friends and family Wednesday morning.

“I love you too, mom!” her smiling daughter responded. “Thanks for all you’ve done for me!”

It was a scene played out in similar ways thousands of times over two days of ceremonies, the first traditional in-person commencement ceremonies held for Rutgers–Camden graduates since 2019.

The university awarded more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees during the ceremonies for the Class of 2022 held at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, formerly the BB&T Pavilion. Graduates hailed from 21 countries outside of the United States, 33 states, and all of New Jersey’s 21 counties. A total of 91 graduates reside in the city of Camden. Graduates ranged in age from 19 to 71, and almost half of the more than 1,500 undergraduates granted degrees were first-generation college students

The ceremonies included the awarding of honorary doctorates to Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of The New York Times’ groundbreaking 1619 Project, and Judith M. Persichilli, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health who helped lead the state’s pandemic response.

Rutgers–Camden Faculty of Arts and Sciences

On Tuesday night, Rutgers–Camden Chancellor Antonio D. Tillis beamed from the podium as he surveyed the crowd of more than 5,000 that packed the arena for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences ceremony that honored graduates from The Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences, and University College. “You have given us all many, many reasons to cheer,” Tillis said. “To all of you I say very well done,” which he also shared in Spanish, “Muy bien hecho.”

Hannah-Jones, who received her honorary doctor of letters at the ceremony, said she often passes on such invitations, but that Rutgers–Camden’s commitment to civic engagement and diversity motivated her to accept. “I’m really selective when it comes to agreeing to give commencement addresses,” she said. “I usually say no . . . But I’ve accepted the invitation to give this address because I so believe in the work that Rutgers University–Camden does in this community, and its passionate commitment to serving students whose backgrounds and struggles are similar to my own.

“Universities bring people like myself to commencement ceremonies hoping that we will inspire the graduates,” she said. “I want you all to know that I am here because you inspire me.”

Hannah-Jones, who now serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she is founding the Center for Journalism and Democracy, said graduates are living in an America where many basic rights are in danger. “These are perilous times, and I am afraid,” she said. “But standing before you all today, I am also encouraged. Because who better to fight back, to help save this country, to force it to live up to its highest ideals and be an exceptional nation for all of its residents—citizens and noncitizens—than you all sitting before me today?”

Hannah-Jones closed with encouraging words that graduates should strive to repay the debts they owe to those who supported them by supporting others. “When you leave here and go out into your respective fields, never forget what it took for you to get here,” she said. “Make sure you don’t close that door behind you, but you reach back for those behind you who are striving to get where you are.”

Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway, who preceded Hannah-Jones, struck a similar tone in his hopes that graduates will work to make a difference in the world. “Get involved in local politics or nonprofits or service agencies,” Holloway said. “Advocate for those who are routinely left behind or get them involved too. This is not an easy thing to ask of you, but nothing worth having comes easy. Democracy does not come easy. Your freedoms do not come easy. Accepting that challenge is what educated citizens do.”

Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden

Judith M. Persichilli—New Jersey’s health commissioner who received an honorary doctor of science degree at the School of Nursing–Camden ceremony on Wednesday morning—told the nursing graduates that they would never forget the challenge of studying and serving their communities during the COVID-19 era. “Someday you will tell future generations about this time, the role you played in this pandemic and the peaks and valleys of an unrelenting virus that is likely to stay with us, unfortunately, for a while, like an unwelcome guest,” Persichilli said.

Persichilli, an alumna of the Rutgers School of Nursing who is the first registered nurse to serve as New Jersey’s health commissioner, began leading the state Department of Health only months before the COVID-19 outbreak surged to the forefront in March 2020. She recounted in vivid detail the challenges that the pandemic posed for her as a leader and for nurses on the front lines.  She also took a historic view of the role nurses played in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, the polio epidemic, and more recently, HIV and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. “Nurses have been on the frontlines dating back to Florence Nightingale, the British nurse who laid the foundation for modern nursing while caring for soldiers in the 1850s during the Crimean War,” Persichilli said.

She said just as nurses in the past have been challenged, nurses in the Class of 2022 will face new and unpredictable challenges, but they will be prepared. “The challenges you have endured, the sacrifices you have made, and the ways that you learned to adapt will help you in your careers,” Persichilli said.

Rutgers Law School in Camden

New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner gave the keynote address for the Rutgers Law in Camden commencement ceremony, encouraging graduates earning their juris doctor degrees to remember that “Lawyers make a difference for the better in people’s lives,” he said. “I hope you never lose sight of that in the years and the decades that lie ahead.”

Rabner said as lawyers, graduates may work with victims of domestic violence, juveniles, and others unable to speak for themselves in the courtroom. “Lawyers give voice to the voiceless,” he said. “Law is not about abstract problems. It’s about people.”

Regardless of what form of law graduates go on to practice, Rabner encouraged them to embrace pro bono work and other volunteer opportunities to help others. “Don’t lose sight of other things that add value and add meaning to your life,” he said.

School of Business–Camden

The School of Business–Camden ceremony featured keynote speaker Toni Pergolin, president and CEO of Bancroft, a regional nonprofit that provides services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, and those in need of neurological rehabilitation.

Pergolin, who authored Too Important to Fail: Leadership Lessons for Nonprofits, a book published in 2020 about her experience leading Bancroft from the brink of bankruptcy to a thriving nonprofit organization with significant reach serving more people with autism, said she never dreamed as an accounting major in college that she would achieve what she has in the nonprofit world. “And never in a million years would I have thought I would write a book—an accountant who wrote a book!” she said.

She said graduates, just as she has done, can be great achievers. “Your potential is well beyond your degree. Your potential is way bigger than your wildest dreams! Or even what you think could happen in a million years!  Believe it. Own it. And make it happen!

“As I look out over your beaming faces—I see CFOs, CEOs, and entrepreneurs,” she said. “I see financial advisors and investment bankers. I see leaders, team players, business minds who are going to save companies from failing. I hope I see many of you in the nonprofit world—organizations so important to our communities who desperately need business-minded talent.”

She closed with a spirited encouragement. “Go be more than your wildest dreams and the world will be a better place for it!”

Rites of Passage

The two days of ceremonies kicked off Tuesday morning with the inaugural iteration of the Rites of Passage ceremony on the Rutgers–Camden campus, a pre-commencement event which began at Rutgers–New Brunswick in 1992 to honor Black and Latinx students. Plans were made to host Rites of Passage at Rutgers–Camden in 2020, but were delayed when the pandemic prohibited in-person events.

Nyeema Watson, vice chancellor of Rutgers–Camden’s Division of Diversity, Inclusion, and Civic Engagement, opened with an overview for more than 200 graduates in attendance with friends and family. “We wanted to take the opportunity to create a unique ceremony that acknowledges you,” she said. “We want to honor your families, your friends, and all of those who have guided you and loved you and supported you in getting to this point. We want to honor our ancestors and your ancestors and those who have come before you.”

Watson then energized the crowd with a “roll call,” saying, “When I shout out who you represent and where you are from, I want you and your family and friends and everyone in this auditorium to let out the biggest yell possible.” Waves of cheers and applause echoed through the venue as she recited her list. “We have students here today who represent Ghana, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Nigeria, Haiti, Honduras, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Sierra Leone . . . if you are African American, Black, Latino, Native American, Afro Latino or Afro Latina, make some noise for yourselves!”

Speakers included Juanita Jones-Daly, a 1991 Rutgers School of Engineering graduate who founded the ceremony in New Brunswick 30 years ago, as well as Josefina Manetta Ewins, a graduating senior whom the Rutgers African American Alumni Alliance awarded the Inaugural Rites of Passage Scholarship.

A first-generation college student and first-generation Panamanian American, she gave a moving acceptance speech about the motivation her parents and her grandmother inspired in her. “I will never forget the words my mother told me when I got on the bus to go to school: ‘Knowledge is power, and that is something they can never take away.’”

A double major in political science and philosophy, Ewins said when her grandmother died in 2020 and the pandemic began, she felt discouragement, but she did not give up on her dreams. “I wanted to make my family proud,” she said. “I had to remember this degree was not only for me, but for the hard work of those who came before me.”

Ewins said she felt empowered at Rutgers–Camden, which made her feel right at home. “Rutgers–Camden is full of life,” she said. “Full of unique people walking down their own paths. A space full of nontraditional students: transfer students; students who are parents, caretakers, providers; and students who refuse to let themselves be defined by biases.”

Ewins was deeply involved on campus in many ways: participant in the Institute for Leadership and Action; student project leader in the Bonner Civic Scholar’s racial justice and equity project; treasurer of the Tri-Alpha First Generation Honors Society; member of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Society; resident assistant; and the Student Governing Association’s Executive Senator. Ewins, who is on an accelerated track to earn a Rutgers–Camden’s master of public administration, will continue her graduate school journey in the fall as a Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics Graduate Fellow. “I hope to continue to be a changemaker in each space I enter,” Ewins said. “I hope to continue to prepare myself to be in the public sector and bring the voices of marginalized communities to the forefront.”

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