Neumann graduates celebrate with pride
ASTON » Among the 652 graduates at Neumann University’s 52nd commencement Saturday were 11 students of its initial social work program and a pair of grandmoms who persevered to prove to themselves they could do something they thought was impossible.
At the ceremony Saturday afternoon in the Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development, 40 individuals received doctorate degrees; 167 master’s; 443 bachelor degrees were distributed; and two received associates degrees.
James D. Delaney, chairman of Neuman University’s board of trustees and founder of JG Wentworth Inc. and his wife, Jacqueline, received honorary doctors of humanities.
“Take time to capture and cherish your defining moments,” Delaney told the graduates, “because they will tell the world who you are.”
Eleven in the class of 2018 were charting a new path, becoming the first to graduate from Neumann’s new bachelor of social work program. Program director Andrea Murphy said these candidates had the openness to learn about others and themselves while being compassionate and empathic.
Amirah Guerrero, 22, of Aldan was one of them.
Starting graduate school in July at Widener University, she was an athletic trainer major when she arrived at Neumann but the change people’s lives was too alluring.
“I like helping people,” Guerrero said. “Everybody deserves a second chance.”
Diane Watson, 65, and Geneva Alvin, 64, both of Chester, first began their collegiate career as a job requirement for their jobs at Delaware County Intermediate Unit Head Start.
“Then after I got my associate’s I was like, ‘No, I want the rest of it!’” Watson said. “It was about me wanting that degree ... For me, it is about doing a personal journey that I didn’t think I could do myself. I didn’t have the confidence to think that I could get through college because I wasn’t an A student in high school but I was an A student all through college.”
From learning computers to bridging generational gaps with their fellow students, their path was well earned.
“I had one semester, I was terrified like this with the expectation, not knowing what I was going to be facing, what I had to do,” Watson said as she shook her two hands. “I persevered just by keeping on and not saying ... ‘This is too hard, I want to quit.’ But every time I wanted to quit, I was still steady and driving here.”
Alvin’s 84-year-old mom, Louise E. Bumpers, boarded a plane from Georgia to watch her daughter’s moment.
“I asked the Lord, ‘Let me stay here to see you graduate,’” Alvin said her mom said. “And she flew in to see me graduate. That touched my heart more than anything.”
Bumpers said she had to delay her degree to care for her children, but when her friend Watson went, so did she. And Alvin’s mom was pushing her the whole time.
“And she was an encourager, motivator and pushing me on,” Alvin said. “I finally finished what I started.”
The two offered some words of wisdom they learned from the experience.
“It was a personal journey for me building confidence in myself that I did something that I didn’t think I could do,” Watson said.
“Complete the process,” Alvin said. “You’re never too old.”