GS Celebrates 2012 Class Day

Addressing the crowd that assembled on Mother’s Day, Dean Peter J. Awn praised the “true diversity” of the graduating class, emphasizing that the integration of GS students into classrooms with other undergraduates “enhances the intellectual discourse in a very special way” and sets the Columbia undergraduate experience apart from its peers. Building on that tradition, this year also marked the first graduates of the Dual BA Program Between Columbia and University and Sciences Po, with five of the program’s pioneer students completing their studies.

President Lee C. Bollinger echoed Dean Awn’s sentiments, citing the “talented, remarkable” students of GS and their varied life experiences as “the ideal we strive for throughout the institution—academic excellence, social opportunity, and a burning desire to learn.”

A 2008 graduate of GS, Class Day Speaker Thomas Reardon focused on how the nonlinear narratives of GS students led them to complete their undergraduate educations. Reardon, one of the original architects of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, came to GS to study classics after an extended period in Silicon Valley as a software developer and has since returned to Columbia begin his PhD in neuroscience.

Orly Ratzabi-Cohen, who enrolled in GS after completing her mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Force, and Jan Kargulewicz, whose family fled Poland in the early 1980s and who has worked around the world, received the Alumni Key medal from Dean Awn and 2012 Alumni Reunion Chairwoman Elaine Bernstein ’72.

Citing the importance of the support of friends and family “at every twist and turn,” Salutatorian Aliza Kathryn Minogue-Nachison thanked GS for providing her with her “next future,” one that’s taken her from working as a stand-in on movie sets to applying for PhD programs in art history.

Valedictorian Maxwell Bertolero detailed his path to GS, starting with leaving high school due to depression and anxiety and becoming a professional motocross racer in southern California. After taking a philosophy course at a local community college, Bertolero rediscovered his passion for learning, which will take him to the University of California at Berkley in the fall of 2012 to study neuropsychology.

“The world needs more educated people who are afraid to deviate from the norm,” Bertolero said, dubbing the Class of 2012 “educated rule-breakers.”

Also on hand for the ceremony was retired General George W. Casey, former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and a commanding general in Iraq from 2004-07. Casey, whose commitment to helping returning veterans reintegrate into civilian life is a cause close to the hearts of the 41 graduates who are members of the armed forces, stressed that GS students are not just nontraditional, but “extraordinary,” noting the cost of service of the veterans and their families, and congratulating them on their exceptional accomplishments.