By Philip Newman
U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez implored more than 1,000 LaGuardia Community College graduates never to give in to adversity while television newsman Ray Suarez said their need for more education was infinite.
Thunderous applause and joyous shouts erupted from families and friends of the 1,008 graduates, originally from many nations, as the cap-and-gowned graduates filed into the Jacob Javits Center June 5 to the strains of Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance.”
After the last graduate accepted her diploma, a confetti bomb burst, filling the air in the vast hall with a blizzard of red and white, the school’s colors..
Perez, whose parents came from the Dominican Republic, was the commencement speaker. He urged the graduates never to give up while pursuing their life goals.
“In 2006, I ran for attorney general of Maryland,” Perez said. “Polls showed us in a dead heat with our opponents. But a couple weeks before the primary, I was kicked out of the race by our state’s highest court on a legal technicality in a ruling that nobody expected.
“It was a crushing moment, but as is often the case in life, when a door slammed in my face, a window opened. Were it not for that experience, Gov. O’Malley would not have asked me to be state labor secretary and, if I had not served as Maryland labor secretary, I would not have been asked by President Obama to be U.S. labor secretary.
Perez, who was born in Buffalo, N.Y., pointed out that Steve Jobs started Apple out of his garage at age 20 and J.K. Rowling was on public assistance when she wrote the first Harry Potter book.
“As you climb the ladder of success, reach out to those below you, he said. “Let’s turn this from a selfie culture to an ‘ussy’ culture.”
Suarez, the prize-winning news correspondent at PBS NewsHour, who is now with Al Jazeera America television, was the keynote speaker.
“My parents told me, ‘If want to get into heaven, you better have letters of reference from poor people,” Suarez said “Whatever you’re doing, more degrees, credentials, jobs, you must be prepared to keep on learning. What you have learned now is not enough to make it through the rest of your life. The world does not reward standing still. No matter how much education you get or have, there is always more to learn.
He added, “Down the line somewhere, you may have been told you are not college material. Thank God you didn’t listen.”
The LaGuardia Community College, in Long Island City, class of 2014, profiled:
• Women 62.6 percent, men 37.4 percent
• Hispanic 35.3 percent, Asian/Pacific Islander 19.6 percent, black/non-Hispanic 12.3 percent, remaining 20.5 percent consider themselves of another ethnic origin and prefer not to self-identify
• Where graduates live: Queens 63.7 percent, Brooklyn 14.9 percent, Manhattan 10.3 percent, the Bronx 6.6 percent, elsewhere 4.5 percent.
• 50.5 percent are between 18 and 24, 23.3 percent are 25-29, 10.9 percent are 35-44 and 4.3 percent are 45 or older
• Top majors: liberal arts, social sciences and humanities 25.4 percent, business administration 14.3 percent, nursing and criminal justice both 8.4 percent, accounting 6.7 percent.
About LaGuardia Community College:
• More than 50,000 students from more than 150 countries come to LaGuardia each year.
• More than 70 percent of LaGuardia students have a family income of less than $25,000.
• Lifetime earnings increase by more than $400,000 for students with an associate degree.
• In the past decade, the LaGuardia Community College Foundation has raised more than $8 million toward student scholarships, student emergency funds and new initiatives aimed at enhancing student success.
• LaGuardia Business Services have helped more than 17,000 small businesses grow and created more than 8,000 jobs in little more than a decade.
• LaGuardia has gained support from such foundations as Bill and Melinda Gates, Robin Hood and the Ford Foundation.
• Destinations of LaGuardia graduates: Queens College 20 percent, Baruch 17 percent, John Jay 11 percent, Hunter 10 percent, City College 8 percent, private colleges 7 percent, SUNY 4 percent and other SUNY colleges 23 percent.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-260-4536.
