Valedictorian Tara Mayernick, Speaker Hillary Clinton
Urge Confidence at C.W. Post Commencement

Valedictorian Tara Mayernick urged more than 2,300 graduates to “care enough to try your best,” a theme echoed minutes later by keynote speaker Senator Hillary Clinton at the 48th annual Commencement exercises at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville on Sunday, May 14.

Mayernick, a music education major from Shelton, Conn., recalled wrestling with doubt and told her fellow graduates about the people in her life who had taught her that “every discouraging voice ... had been wrong.”

“May all of our endeavors be successful, and may we measure success by the love and work we put into our goals as well as by their outcome,” said Mayernick, 21. “And above all—let our voices be strong and encouraging and positive, so that those who look to us for guidance will also find inspiration, hope and an everlasting resolve to try.”

Clinton voiced similar sentiments, recalling her own doubts about running for United States Senate in 1999 and the words of a high school student – “dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton” – that helped make up her mind.

“America needs you to grab hold of this moment -- to dare to compete to do the best you can and to help make our country the best it can be,” Clinton told the overflow crowd gathered on the C.W. Post Campus’ Great Lawn.

Stephanie Grice, 22, an honors student and resident of Batavia, N.Y., was the salutatorian of the Class of 2006. The Inaugural Chancellor’s Awards for Distinguished Service were presented to Charles G. Hitchcock, a professor of sociology for 39 years and dean of academic affairs at the Southampton Graduate Campus, and Morimichi Watanabe, a professor of political science and history at the C.W. Post Campus.

Clinton was awarded an honorary doctorate of law. An honorary doctorate of humane letters was awarded to Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest online book seller. Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented to Roland A. DeSilva (Class of 1962), founder and managing partner of the investment bank DeSilva & Phillips, and C. David Ruvola (Class of 1981), retired lieutenant colonel in the New York Air National Guard who survived a helicopter crash at sea while on a rescue mission during the 1991 nor’easter chronicled as “The Perfect Storm.”

C.W. Post, a private, co-educational institution of higher learning located in Brookville, N.Y., has awarded more than 90,000 degrees in its 51-year history.

Posted: May 15, 2006