College to hold December Commencement

The State University of New York at New Paltz will hold its December Undergraduate and Graduate Commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 19 and 20, in the Athletic and Wellness Center. The December ceremonies recognize the achievements of August and December graduates.

There are 359 undergraduate students scheduled to attend the December ceremonies (out of 700 eligible for commencement). In the Graduate School, there are 191 registered participants of 404 eligible candidates.

• The undergraduate ceremony for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Education will take place on Friday, Dec. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m.

• The undergraduate ceremony for the School of Business, the School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the School of Science and Engineering will take place on Saturday, Dec. 20, from 10 a.m. to noon.

• The graduate ceremony will take place on Saturday, Dec. 20, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The graduate candidates will participate in a formal master’s “hooding ceremony,” where their academic deans will officially “hood” the students as they walk across the stage.

The Provost’s Office has announced that Sara Whiting, a painting and visual arts education major from Apalachin, N.Y., will be this December’s valedictorian. Whiting will address the class on Saturday morning. She plans to convey some of the life lessons she has learned through her painting.

At the top of the list is the “challenge of stepping back and allowing yourself to see situations from various perspectives,” which she said she learned in the studio.

Whiting, who will return to campus for the Dec. 20 ceremony after a semester spent student teaching in Binghamton, will be joined by salutatorian Sondra Hardwick, an Asian Studies major from Poughkeepsie.

In addition to earning top grades, both students took advantage of the Study Abroad opportunities while at New Paltz. Whiting attended a landscape painting class in Ireland, which she said helped her decide to major in painting. Meanwhile, Hardwick’s junior year in Japan at Kanazawa University fed her passion for the Japanese language. “It’s amazing to see the things you learned in school directly apply to your life abroad,” she said.

Next year, Whiting will pursue a job teaching art while working on her painting portfolio. She ultimately plans to attend graduate school.

Hardwick plans to move to Japan to teach English. She has tutored students in English as a Second Language at the college.

For more information about the 2008 SUNY New Paltz December Commencement ceremony, visit www.newpaltz.edu/commencement.