Molloy College holds 57th commencement

Molloy College's 57th commencement ceremony was held Monday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Number of graduates

1,161

Commencement address

Molloy College President Drew Bogner encouraged the class of 2015 to be agents of change and a force for good. He called on them to see possibilities, to bring about solutions and to be unafraid to speak up and "to do simple things in the moment."

"You -- each and every one of you -- are called to be heroes in the everyday world," Bogner said.

Honorary degrees

The college awarded honorary doctor of laws degrees to Hempstead resident Joseph McNeil, a retired U.S. Air Force major general who was a member of the "Greensboro Four," a group of students who in 1960 sat at a segregated lunch counter in the Woolworth five-and-dime store in that North Carolina city, and to Nancy Rauch Douzinas, president of the Rauch Foundation, a Garden City-based organization that invests in ideas and research that affect Long Island.

Graduates

Saniya Khan, 21, accounting

"I'll be working at the Federal Reserve in internal audit. I interned there last year and they offered me the job. I'm a little nervous, but very excited."

Justin Bortell, 21, nursing

"I had two surgeries in the last few years and I saw how passionate they [nurses] were, and I decided I wanted to do something I could be passionate about, too."

Cherie Ferby-Guy, 23, master's in business administration

"I've learned so much about time management. I've been working Monday to Friday and taking classes at night. It's great to say I have a master's at 23 years old. That makes it worth it."

Jessica Buonfrisco, 21, early childhood education, with a concentration in mathematics

"I've always wanted to be a teacher. After student teaching, I really fell in love with the younger ones."

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.