International student is fall semester valedictorian

NEW PALTZ — Eight hundred graduate candidates will be awarded their degrees at the State University of New York December Commencement Ceremony at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21, at the mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie.

The ceremony’s featured speaker will be this fall’s valedictorian, Klodian Vangjeli, an international student from Albania. Vangjeli has a 3.98 grade point average and will be graduated with a bachelor of the arts degree in computer science.

Vangjeli’s remarks will focus on his experiences as an international student at New Paltz and convey his feelings on the quality of the math and computer science program. “I come from a small, but proud country like Albania,” said Vangjeli. “It is important for me, as it would be for everyone else, to mention that my background and heritage were major factors in shaping my character and making me the person I am.”

Vangjeli transferred to New Paltz in the spring of 2001 from the New York College in Athens, Greece to study computer science. Vangjeli said that after graduating he would begin work on his master’s degree at New Paltz while working as a teacher’s assistant in the Computer Science Department. Ultimately, he said, he would like to become a software developer working in his own company.