Be True to Yourself & Make a Difference, Speakers Tell NJIT's Class of 2025
Persevere, be authentic, remain flexible and make a difference in the world, speakers told the Class of 2025 at New Jersey Institute of Technology’s undergraduate commencement.
Keynote speaker Kevin O’Toole, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said NJIT graduates “are not just job-ready; they’re mission-ready. They’re problem-solvers. They’re innovators. They’re people who roll up their sleeves and get things done. And they’re the ones we need at the table solving our country’s problems.”
“Your STEM education from this terrific university can take you so many places,” added Jennifer Taubert, worldwide chairman of innovative medicine at Johnson & Johnson and an honorary degree recipient. “If you focus on having impact in an area that you love, it will be so much more rewarding than simply a position or a title.”
Echoing that sentiment, student speaker Marina Samuel, a biomedical engineering major and president of the Student Senate, said, “Leadership isn’t about the title. It’s about listening, showing up and leaving things a little better than you found them.”
“Use your talents to pursue goals that will lift others and improve our world,” added NJIT President Teik C. Lim. “That is how you lead a life of consequence and of value.”
Spirited traditions
The uplifting messages befit the festive ceremony, which featured bagpipers, a student a cappella group singing the alma mater, a confetti shower and shoutouts to scholars who earned 4.0 GPAs and honors, faculty, board members and the most senior alumni. The more than 1,400 graduates inside the Prudential Center in Newark certainly had earned the pomp and circumstance after years of hard work in University Heights.
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Reflecting on her education, Samuel stressed the value of setting goals and achieving them. Equally important, however, is knowing when to pivot.
“Like many of you I had a plan. I was supposed to graduate and go straight into the industry. That was just the next step, until it wasn’t,” said Samuel, who credits her parents for inspiring and guiding her. “An unexpected opportunity came up: the chance to stay here and pursue a Ph.D. in biomechanics. It was exciting. But it was also terrifying.
“The plan I had spent years building suddenly shifted. But, as Steve Jobs once said, ‘You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward.’ And looking back now, I realize that moment of uncertainty became one of the greatest gifts of my life.”
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Continued learning
Taubert, who also serves on the Board of Directors of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, underscored the importance of adhering to personal values, positivity and teamwork.
“Seek out and work with people who are smarter than you, who have different experiences and perspectives,” she said, noting that more than 250 NJIT alumni work at J&J. “It’ll spark creativity and innovation, ensure you continue to be positively challenged and will drive continued learning.”
An embodiment of continued learning is O’Toole, who’s also a lawyer and managing partner at O’Toole Scrivo and who served two decades in the New Jersey Legislature as a senator and assemblyman. His closing message was direct and from the heart: make people’s lives better.
“From this day forward you’ll be asked to transform science and math into stuff that makes people’s lives better. There can’t be a more noble calling than that,” said O’Toole, who also received an honorary degree.
The third and final honorary degree was bestowed to Dennis Bone, the former president and CEO of Verizon New Jersey, an executive in residence at Montclair State University’s Feliciano School of Business and a trustee emeritus at NJIT.
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Salutes and rituals
The Pru Center celebration — which came two days after campus ceremonies for students who earned master’s degrees and Ph.D.s — continued with NJIT Alumni Association President Alfred Martinez saluting the most senior alumni in the room, both from the Class of 1955: Cynthia (Kiley) Pruett, who earned a bachelor’s in chemical engineering, and Leonard Wodzanowski, who earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering.
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Likewise, Provost John Pelesko recognized faculty members, trustees and members of the Foundation Board of Directors. But, as this ultimately is a day for students, he also cheered graduates in the ROTC program, Class Crier Matthew Torres and Albert Dorman Honors Scholar Cassia Daudelin, who delivered an exceptional rendition of the National Anthem.
In that same Highlander spirit, Lim led the class in a well-earned ritual: the swinging of mortarboard tassels to the left to signify graduation. Then the mortarboards flew up and the confetti showered down on the gleeful graduates.
Congratulations to the Class of ’25!
