A round-up of amazing stories of NY-area high school and college graduations.
Every year, thousands of students commemorate the end of their time at local high schools and colleges. Each of them has accomplished so much, and each has a story to tell of how she achieved so much. Here we’ve compiled just a few of the most inspiring stories we found from 2016 commencements.
Teen-Age Cancer Survivor Works to Give Sick Kids a Better Childhood
Graduating Bay Shore High School High School senior Morgan Zuch hopes to give children with cancer the childhood she never got to have through her efforts at the Morgan Center, a preschool her parents founded for children with cancer, according to Newsday.
When Zuch was diagnosed with leukemia at 2 years old, she was considered a “standard risk” patient, the lowest-risk category, which meant that she had reason to be optimistic about her prognosis. Still, her early years were filled with chemotherapy, medication, injections, and surgeries. Because of her weak immune system, she wasn’t allowed to play with other children or go to preschool. At one point in Zuch’s childhood, she wasn’t walking, talking or eating for two weeks—but she was cancer-free at 10 years old.
After seeing their daughter spend her childhood in various hospital rooms, Nancy and Rod Zuch founded The Morgan Center in 2003. Morgan has been volunteering and fundraising for the center since she was a child and is attending Marist College in the fall on a rowing scholarship and studying education, hoping to eventually work full time at the center.
The Morgan Center has helped more than 200 children and their families since opening in 2003. The center is open from September to June three days a week, and all tuition and expenses are funded by private donations and fundraising.
“I love seeing the children and giving back, because I didn’t have this when I was little,” Zuch said. “It’s nice to see them having something that they can go to.”
Through a social media awareness campaign, Zuch has raised more than $23,000 for The Morgan Center this year alone. She is in charge of the organization’s Junior Committee, which raises money and awareness, she teaches students, and also acts as the center’s spokeswoman. The money raised is used for parties, field trips, graduation, and the annual renting of a movie theater so the children at The Morgan Center can safely go to the movies.
Even before marching in her own high school graduation this month, Zuch already led 20 preschoolers in their graduation from The Morgan Center on June 8.
Paralyzed CUNY Student Wins $7K for Innovative Sewing Machine Invention
Kelvin Henry, 31-year-old engineering student at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, didn’t let a life-altering accident stop his thirst for innovation.
After being paralyzed by a gunshot wound in 2004, Henry wanted to create a sewing machine that he could use to make his own adaptive clothing, according to DNA Info.
With the help of Queensborough’s 3D printing lab and his professors, Henry built a sewing machine with a part that shifts the motor control from the foot pedal to the weight of his arms. This design introduced him to the world of sewing because he could not use the foot-pedal that traditional sewing machines require. He wanted to create more options for people who generally have fewer options.
“You feel isolated, in a sense, with fashion,” Henry said.
Additionally, he won the top prize of $7,500 in The Cuny & Capital One Community College Innovation Challenge. Henry plans to use the money to work on his clothing company, Kmatikz, in which he designs clothing with zippers and magnets, making it easier for people with limited mobility to dress.
The designs are also very stylish, something he never lost sight of.
22-Year-Old Graduates with Honors Despite Extreme Adversity
At age 10, Bianca Jeannot and her family were homeless. At age 22, she graduated from the College of New Rochelle with honors, according to Lohud.com.
Right before Jeannot’s high school graduation, her mother died suddenly of heart attack, leaving her in charge of the household and her two disabled brothers. Given no time to grieve or plan, she began working tirelessly for her family.
Jeannot commuted back and forth from The College of New Rochelle, where she worked three jobs on campus and one off, edited the school newspaper, wrote for and edited the college’s literary magazine–The Phoenix–and started a new club.
In 2014, she had to attend multiple court meetings when her landlord accused her of owing $9,000 in unpaid rent. That same year, her brother Paul Santos, 34, who was diagnosed as a teenager with final-stage renal failure, went into chronic rejection after receiving a kidney transplant. When she had to miss classes to attend court or go to the hospital, it was always “with great pain and deep apology,” according to her professor and academic adviser Nick Smart.
Despite paying the bills, buying the food, and taking care of her brothers, she always got her work, homework, and extracurricular work done.
“She could’ve come from a house with three swimming pools in Scarsdale, and I would’ve been impressed,” Smart said.
Jeannot still finds time to write leisurely and graduated from college this May with honors. In the future, she hopes to continue her writing and pursue a career with the ASPCA or the New York City Police Animal Cruelty Unit.
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Michelle Obama Calls CCNY Graduates ‘Living Breathing Proof That the American Dream Endures’
“Here in America, we don’t give in to our fears,” First Lady Michelle Obama said on June 3 at her last commencement address as first lady.
Obama’s speech at City College of New York, the flagship school in the City University of New York system, was the most recent high point for the school, according to The New York Times. Obama highlighted issues she is passionate about, such as public education and immigration. She praised City College for its famed diversity.
“You represent just about every possible background–every color and culture, every faith, and walk of life,” she said, according to CCNY.cuny.edu.
Her 24-minute address recognized public education as “our greatest pathway to opportunity in America.”
“We need to invest in and strengthen our public universities today, and for generations to come,” she said.
This declaration came at an opportune time for CCNY because it has recently been troubled by overcrowded classes, minimizing course options and maximizing budget cuts. CCNY faculty and students handed out fliers Friday morning recommending public officials invest more money in the school system.
Obama recognized many notable immigrants who attended City College, along with the valedictorian and salutatorian of the graduating class. She also added personal perspective by referencing her husband and daughters.: “…the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: to get an education and improve his prospects in life.” (Photo above courtesy The City College of New York.)
Hunter Graduate Gets Surprise of a Lifetime from Boyfriend During Commencement Ceremony
Nadiya Vengrenruk thought her longtime boyfriend, Pavel Auxtin, who was stationed in Colorado in the Air Force, wouldn’t be there to see her receive her Hunter College diploma. When she was called to the stage, she discovered that that assumption was incorrect.
With the help of his parents and the Hunter staff, Auxtin walked onto the stage at Madison Square Garden with a bouquet of flowers and got down on one knee. Surrounded by her friends, family, fellow graduates, and complete strangers, Vengrenruk couldn’t help but burst into tears when her boyfriend popped the question.
“My legs are shaking, they are still shaking,” Vengrenruk said, according to NY Daily News.
The newly engaged couple met at Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and they were high school sweethearts. The distance between them while he was stationed in Colorado was difficult for both of them, according to Auxtin.
“Nadiya, it’s been so difficult to be so far apart for so long,” said Auxtin. “And this last semester all I’ve been telling you is to graduate, just graduate, and I promise we’ll be together. So today I am here to keep that promise. Will you marry me?”
Auxtin said he hopes she will move in with him wherever he is stationed next so they can continue their life together.
