August 8, 2024 • 34 mins
The final installment of the RCBC Spring 2024 Commencement coverage catches up with President's Award winner Joseph Vercillo who embarked on a remarkable journey of profound personal transformation through Rowan College at Burlington County 20 years after his last educational experience. We'll also catch up with a few graduating students sharing their success stories and experiences while attending RCBC.
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(00:01):
Welcome to the program.Pod, a national award winning
program on the RCBC PodcastNetwork which takes a deep dive
into the programs offered atrcbc through different
perspectives of students,faculty and employers. Yeah,
national award winning podcast.That's right one and only. Jay
Varga here back, I think partthree here for the episodes of
the commencement series for 2024the May commencement. Because
(00:21):
again, we have twocommencements. Now we have a
spring one and then winter.Because some people graduate
over the summer and fall, theydon't want to wait all the way
around till spring, so we honorthem and for the Winter
Commencement. And so it's goodtimes. But yeah, third part, and
got another speaker here,President Award winner for the
other third one, which is JosephVercillo, Joe, right. Yes. Cool.
(00:42):
How you doing, man, good. Howare you, Jay, I'm doing good. So
got to hear a little bit of yourspeech. Yeah. Are you ready to
speak in front of yourclassmates? No, I'm never ready
to speak in front of a crowd.That's, yeah, that's not usually
me. So it's kind of nervewracking, but I think I'll be,
the more I rehearse, the betterit'll be, yeah, yeah. It's a
little different too. You know,we're so we're back here in Voda
(01:04):
Hall, obviously, the MountLaurel campus, but this is where
the Winter Commencement is. And,you know, go on the podium, we
get to hear how you sound alittle bit, but it's totally
different when you're out thereon the quad, bigger PA system,
you know, bigger speakers andsuch, and there's a little bit
of, like, a reverb. Sometimesyour voice will bounce off the
wall back to Yeah, yeah. So wewill test that out a little bit.
(01:25):
So if anybody's listening, youknow, obviously the podcast or
the graduation already happened,because we're going to be
interviewing some of thestudents a little bit later on,
which we'll, you know, we'llhear later on in the program, as
well as part of the commencementtoo. But do you think you're
ready to actually speak in frontof a pretty big crowd? I think
so. I know it like my speech,I'm not completely it's not as
(01:47):
smooth as I'd like it to be,like, with, like, what you gave
me some pointers today, which isawesome, and that I think that's
gonna help me a lot, and but II'm always most nervous before I
actually get up there. And onceI'm up there, I think I'm okay,
yeah, it's always gonna be thejitters, right? Like an athlete
before game, or even myselfbefore, like when I used to
teach twice, kind of the teacherside of me coming out, trying to
(02:09):
give you a couple of pointersin, in the speech and, you know,
and delivery and such, but Iwould get a little bit of
butterflies before my students.And then, right, get in a
classroom, it's like the lightswitch, you know, yeah, you're
off and running. Then you're,Yeah, you're good to go. But
during your speech, you weretalking a little bit, you know,
you said you're all in hockeyand surfing and music and
(02:30):
recording music. Do you playlive music in front of people? I
used to, yeah, lots of shows. Soyou're already ready. I got
Yeah, I'm a little rusty, Iguess. But I guess you never,
you never, kind of lose that ina way, yeah, what kind of music
was it? It was so that was in apunk rock band in high school,
okay? And then then I got intosome acoustic stuff, sure, and
then back into the punk rock. Ihad a little band going for a
(02:52):
couple years in the early 200010s. Yeah, you still play not,
not as much as I'd like to, butyeah, I try, I try to get on the
guitar once in a while, righton, yeah, I still Mike knights
back in college days and hostthem and such.
Not that good of a singer, butthat's why I let my buddy sing,
and I was more the rhythmguitarist stuff. I like messing
around a little bit. I have mydaughter now, so she seems to be
(03:13):
infatuated with just sounds,right music. I got her on a
xylophone, but she really loveswalking up and grabbing the
microphone, just being like, ah.
So that's awesome. So hopefullydust off my guitar a little bit
for her. Yeah, she'll love it,yeah. But all right, so we're
here because you are one of thepresident award winners.
Congratulations. Thank you, bythe way. And so you're speaking
(03:34):
front of Health Sciences. Yes,yeah, right. So because you're
already graduating for theHealth Sciences class, yes, I
am. First things first. Why didyou apply to be a president's
award winner? Um, honestly, myuh, professor was she, kind of,
she emailed a few, few of us tokind of just kind of say, Yeah,
apply. You might get it. Andthat's, that's just how I found
(03:55):
out about I didn't actually knowthat that was happening. I
didn't know how they selectedthat Sure. I didn't know the
process. But, yeah, I had aninterview, and then I got the
call, and it was, it wasawesome. Who was your professor?
Professor, Professor, Rivera.Okay, yeah, so your story then,
like, how did you're fromCanada, stuff. So how do you end
up here? You know, rcbc. Yeah,it's good to know you. So, so I
(04:17):
met my wife through work, sokind of like, this goes back to
the music. So my friend and Iwere making music for for it was
kind of like soundtrack music,and we sell it on to license it
nice. And my wife just, I thinkshe found me on through YouTube.
It was like a random YouTube.One of our songs was on YouTube,
(04:37):
and she clicked on it. She likedone of the, you know, made, had
a comment or something thatsaid, you know, I like your
music. I replied. And then webecame friends, and then we try.
She's a she's a writer, and shehas a fiction fiction series
called the portal Chronicles,okay? And she wanted to do a.
(05:00):
An audio book, and that's how weconnected. So she wanted to have
a theme music for that, so wecollaborated to make a song for
that, and that's how we met. Sowe were friends for years, and
then finally we met in person.We kind of hit it off, and then
I've been coming back and forthever since. So she's from out
here. Yeah, she's from Swedenoriginally, and then she's,
she's been living here in the USsince, I think 2001 okay, where
(05:23):
in the US was, yeah, we seeright here in Jersey. Yes,
always in Jersey. Okay, okay, soPrinceton, Princeton area, okay,
all right. So here, you know,end up at rcbc.
You know, you're a littleweathered like myself. Yeah,
right. So, how did you find yourway? I mean, so, Marty, Marty,
your story is that you're,you're a 43 year old graduate,
right? Because you want to goout and do the whole surfing and
(05:44):
hockey and music and, you know,kind of go out live your life
and figure things out as itgoes, exactly, right? I feel
like there was, like, you canmaybe kind of look back on it,
like, maybe I should have got amore stable job. But no, I know
what's the purpose. I don'tregret it exactly. It's like
life experience. So, yeah,that's, yeah, you know, I always
like to say it's kind of cliche,is it? But the light will show
(06:04):
you its way. Yeah, there's, youknow, that experience. You
probably wouldn't, you wouldhave never met your wife. I
wouldn't exactly right? Yeah,never met getting goosebumps,
yeah? Because that's, that's,that was the purpose. It's just
a connection there. Yeah, so,but you're here, so obviously,
health sciences, you're relatedto that. Why did you choose or
what is your major specifically,and why did you choose that,
right? So my my major is nursingand so, so, like I said in my
(06:29):
speech, we me and my wife weregoing over things that I could
possibly do. So she asked me,like, what, what was your dream
job when you're a kid? And Isaid, firefighting, that was
what I wanted to do. And
she's like, let's try that. Sowe, I called my local volunteer
company up in West Windsor
got, like, they pretty much putme right into fire school. And
(06:52):
then they're gonna say fire waslike, No,
literally, I remember get thefirst day I got my my gear, and
they're like, You got gear. Andthen the call came in, like, hop
on the truck. I was scared,sure, but, and then, yeah, it's
one of those things you just,you get thrown in, and you hit
the ground running, yeah. Sothen from there, I got my EMT
(07:12):
certification, like the medicineside of it, like the the medical
side, and then, yeah, I foundthe nursing program, and I
applied and got in, and just,that's the process has just been
going so, and here I am. Yeah,fine, you are, and a president's
award winner speaking classmatesand everything else shocked. So
life sometimes comes at youfast. It does, yeah, a little
(07:32):
bit later, but fast, yeah, youknow when it does. So I love
seeing that drive. It's a greatstory. It's just kind of, you
know, goes to show you'rereferring to your speech, which
I will play a little clip lateron, because we will be
broadcasting the speech live toYouTube, so anybody in the world
can be, you know, checking itout. It'll be archived later,
but I'm going to pull some ofthe audio clips that I'll put on
this podcast a little bit later.But in that speech, you're
(07:54):
talking about some of thoseexcuses. And sometimes even I
had it because I was like, Iwanted to go back to school,
possibly to go into masters,because I'm getting a little
more curious with, you know,computer science, right? And
cyber security, because now theyhandle the website as well here
at school. It's like, I'vealways enjoyed computers, but I
took the radio broadcastingroute, right? And I learned all
experience and everything else.But, you know, radio is kind of
(08:17):
a little cut throat. It's not asmuch job security as, say, cyber
security and stuff. But then Istart to think, Am I too old to
go back? You know, I'm gonnahave time to do this. I just
have my daughter. Where am Ireally gonna find that time? And
these are the questions, butyou're a living example of it.
You know, it's never too old togo back. Never too old. Yeah, I
didn't know that until, like,like I was saying, I kept making
those excuses of why I couldn'tdo certain things, like, like,
(08:41):
firefighter. I thought I neededchemistry to do that. No way I'm
ever passing a chemistry course,which, by the way, I did, yeah,
all right, school. Okay, sothat's another thing where you
kind of like doubt yourself, butthen you realize, hey, I can do
this.
But yeah, it was bio for me,actually. Bio, yeah, chemistry
was easy because I'm good withmy math formulas and everything.
Yeah? Bio, though, no, that wasthe one. That was the one
(09:03):
subject that was just that welland art history. But I was like,
because it was a Monday nightfrom like, seven to 10 or
whatever. It was, just on allall slides, it was tough to just
keep my attention. Yeah, there,but yeah, bio was the tough one.
So frame of bio major out there.Kudos to you, because you,
you're a lot smarter than I am,but so you're here, get to get
some of the experiences, andyou're gonna be on your way. But
(09:24):
what was some of the memorableexperiences you had here at
rcbc? Oh, there's a lot. I thinkthe main ones were from my so I
did a co op through MorristownFire Department. So basically I
was there two days a week, doinglike, on calls, kind of for
calls there during the day. Andthat was amazing, because I,
(09:45):
like, it was, it was kind oflike they, they welcomed me into
their fam. Like it was like thefire family always seems like a
brotherhood. Yeah, it's, oh,it's, it was, it was awesome. So
two days a week I could gothere. They had, they had a
little office for for me. I gotall my my schoolwork done for
the week.
And then, yeah, when the callwould come in, we'd get out
there, and, you know, yeah, itwas great. But those are some of
(10:07):
my best memories. That's a greatexperience for it, yeah. And
they have some great programshere at rcbc, yeah. So what are
you gonna miss most about thisplace then? Oh,
I would say the people I metlike that. That's, I think
that's obvious, the connection,yeah, it's very you kind of take
it for granted, too, when you'rehere, and then all of a sudden,
(10:27):
everybody's going theirdifferent directions, and you
hope that you can keep in touch,but sometimes you don't see them
again. So, but that's what I'mgonna I'm gonna miss, is the
those those friendships, Iguess. Okay, so where are you
headed next? So right now I havea job lined up at Penn Medicine
in Princeton, as in theresidency program for nursing.
(10:47):
So gonna be in the or there,and, yeah, I'm just gonna take
it from there, see what, seewhat happens. I'm just gonna try
to, you know, be the best nurseI can be for a few years, and
then, you know, keep myeducation going. Maybe become a
nurse practitioner down theroad, or, I don't know yet, but
are you? Are you stabbing peoplewith needles? Not yet,
(11:08):
my terror thing, yeah, yeah. Allright. So part of me, you know,
trying to get you ready forthose next steps. And you said,
you know, you kind of have abunch of Iceman goals. You're
graduating and such is alsopreparing you for some real
world interview questions,right? In case you got to get
out there? Sure, and it's alittle different for nursing.
It's not as, I don't know, youknow, it's kind of very specific
in knowing what you have to do,yeah, right, not like you're
(11:30):
applying to go to some notnecessarily like a law firm or
whatever it is, but I like toask these, you know, out of the
box questions, just to make sureyou get your brain thinking and
be ready if you're on the fly.So if you could choose one song
to play every time you walkedinto a room, what would you
choose? And why? Oh, man, whatsong? Oh music guy too. Yeah,
(11:51):
that's a really awkward one.
Um,
that's a tough one. Uh, okay, Igotta go make your walk up song
to the plate. You know what Imean, where they're Nirvana,
breed,
okay, all right. I like thatgood rocking, yeah? All right.
So little different here. But sowhat do you think about when
you're alone in your car? Oh,I'm usually listen listening to
(12:15):
podcasts.
You're not thinking at all.You're just kind of, oh yeah,
just drifting off, yeah. But ifI'm not, it's, it's thinking
about what I got to pick up onmy way home for the for
groceries, usually the
honey do list, yeah, yeah,exactly. I know that. And
usually I still forget, I forgetthe one thing I write some stuff
down, I'd still somehow, she'slike, Yeah, the whole purpose of
(12:35):
you going to the store was topick up, you know, the milk or
whatever, yeah, but I got allthis others, yeah, right. I
always say, if it wasn't on thelist and I didn't get it, yeah,
I'm usually now have mydaughter. I had like, such dad
brain going on that I just can'tI can barely remember. I'm
always just forgetting stuff,Lisa, I don't forget my
daughter, you know, yeah, themost important part, what do you
think of garden gnomes? Oh,garden gnomes, yeah. So it was,
(12:59):
that's kind of funny that. Sothere's a little path in my
neighborhood up in West Windsorthat people would just put
random gnomes down. They call itgnome village. Oh, really, yeah.
So we, me and my wife have kindof got a collection going in the
woods there. So okay, we got, wehave two wiener dogs at home. So
(13:20):
we got two wiener dog gnomes, Iguess, with little gnomes riding
the wiener dogs. So then we putthem down in the forest. So I
like them. I like I like gnomes,not expecting that answer.
Was not ready for that one.That's why I like someone asking
some of these questions, yeah,if you could compare yourself to
an animal, what would it be? Andwhy? Oh, I'd have to go, this
(13:44):
is, I guess this would be, thisis preschool. Me sure would be a
sea turtle. I feel like I wouldbe a sea turtle. Just, you know,
look at that violin going aroundthe world. Yeah, I think it's
more water. Yeah, I can see the,I see the sort of surfing, kind
of come back a little bit too,yeah, full scale. I think we're
right in that same boat, yeah?Music, surfing, sports, you said
(14:06):
hockey and hockey team. What'syour hockey team? Oh, devils.
I've always been a devils fan. Igrew up taking you off the
podcast already, Philly here,yeah. So you're from Canada. You
like a devils Yeah. So I grew upin the Toronto area. Okay, I've
do not like leave fans. I justdidn't like that. I didn't want
to jump on the bandwagon there.So not really much a bandwagon.
(14:29):
They keep losing. They'rehorrible. But and being a
goalie, I was a Martin Broderfan, so that's, yeah, the
devils. I gotta respect mark andBroder, but he kept the flyers
from winning. You know, yeah,stupid trap game that kept the
trap. It was boring, but itworked. Yeah, it did work. But
hopefully the flyers get back ontrack eventually. I thought
that, actually, I thought thedevils are going to do something
(14:50):
this year, especially making allthose those moves and bringing
him. And then they didn't even,they didn't make the playoffs
now, then they started tradingoff, trading off everybody. But
we could talk.
Sports. Keep on going, butcouple more questions, and we'll
get ready to wrap things up.Would you rather fight 100 duck
sized horses or one horse sizedduck?
(15:12):
Oh, I'm going with the 100 ducksized what was it? 100 duck
sized horses? Yeah, or one horsesized duck. I'm gonna go for the
hundreds, yeah? Why? Um, I feellike I could, I could, I could
step on them or something. A lotof them, there's a lot. And I
can run. I don't know that's atough one. I don't think I can
(15:33):
take a big duck, though. Yeah, abig horse sized duck. I don't
know what they're gonna do withtheir big beak and everything
else. Yeah, that's what I'mafraid of. Yeah, no wrong
answer. There's no wrong answer.
All right, this is the importantquestion, though, right? How
would you rate me as aninterviewer? I would rate 10 out
of 10, right? Yeah, very. Likeyou make the guests comfortable.
(15:54):
It's like, you get some goodquestions going and good reports
not. It's not like, dry oranything. You gotta try get some
pants going. Well, yeah, ithelps when I have good, good
personalities like yourself,right? I can see, and I can see
why, too. It's just anotherreason. You know, they awarded
you the President's Awardwinner, one of the three.
Obviously, we as, again, we havespeeches going on for liberal
(16:16):
arts stem and then what you'regoing to be doing for Health
Sciences, which you're gonna bespeaking, I think, right after
the governor of New Jersey, Yes,I heard that. Yeah, yes. So they
asked for your credentials andeverything else you did not.
Yeah. They're starting to,they're starting to ask all of
us in our backgrounds andeverything else. Yeah, you don't
want my background. I'll befarther away, though. I'll be
fine. I'll be running aroundwith the mascot out there
(16:37):
somewhere and a microphoneinterviewing some people. So
I'll be far away from thegovernor. They're good. Yeah,
so, but Joe, again, you know,congratulations. Thank you.
Great story to share. Is thereany advice you'd like to say to
your peers or the rest of theyou know, 2024, spring
graduates? Yeah, before we gothere, I would say, just have
(16:57):
fun. And because these theseyears go by really quickly. And
yeah, just have fun. And whenyou go out there, don't make
excuses and not do somethingthat you're afraid of, that's
you know, you want to pursue.Just do it. Get out there and do
it. Yeah, you're the livingexample. Yeah, you know what I
mean. You thought of some of theexcuses you couldn't Yeah, your
wife steps in, and she kind ofjust kept you focused. And here
(17:20):
you are living early, 43graduating and on to be doing
some better things. Anythingelse you want to add promote
somebody want to shout out wifeparents. Say hi to my wife,
Imogen and my stepdaughter,Lauren and our two dogs. All
right. All right. Well, again,Congrats, man. Thanks. Looking
forward to hearing you, andwe'll see you out there. Thanks.
Thanks. Appreciate it, and theregoes. Joe. So happy he was
(17:41):
chosen one of the President'sAward winners for the class of
2024, as he carries such a greatoutlook on life, such a
wonderful inspiration for nontraditional prospective
students, and setting a greatexample that it's never too late
to further your education, nomatter how old you are, right
there again, graduating at theage of 43 and looks forward to
doing so much for and speakingof Joe's inspiration. Let's now
(18:01):
take you to rcbc. President, DrMichael CEO sees introduction of
Joe at the Health Sciencescommencement, and a portion of
his speech to his fellowclassmates, to our graduates,
your degree certifies that youpossess knowledge and the
mastery of skills. Earning thisdegree is a testament to your
character and work ethic. It's abadge of honor that you can
proudly show the world as proofthat you're Career Ready, Life
tested and one tough Baron.
(18:24):
As the data shows, the fact thatyou chose the best community
college in the state of NewJersey already proves that you
were smarter than most. Next up,we're going to hear from a very
impressive Baron, as I mentionedthis afternoon. Ceremony
combines two academic divisions,health sciences and science
technology, engineering andmathematics with a student
speaker representing eachdivision. The rich diversity of
(18:45):
our community college isreflected by the fact that each
speaker has joined our communityfrom another country, one from
Canada and another from Nigeria.
Their stories are verydifferent, but each reinforces
the theme that America, despiteour problems, remains a land of
opportunity for anyone willingto dream big, plan well and work
hard.
(19:05):
Our first speaker wants to helpsave lives, both in his career
as a nurse and a volunteerfirefighter.
Joseph for solo grew up inCanada, where he described
himself as an average studentwho lacked ambition, drifting
from jobs and spending his life,surfing, playing hockey and
music. Actually, that soundslike one of my life goals. I got
(19:28):
to get those kids out of thehouse first, though. So Joe met
a girl who was living in NewJersey. Things got serious, and
it was time to find more stableliving. A desire to help people
led him to rcbc, EMT program toenhance his skills for a career
in firefighting. Here at rcbc,he gained a new confidence and
appreciation and discipline forschool. He pushed himself to
(19:49):
apply for and ultimatelycomplete rcbc competitive
nursing program at 43 years old.
Today, he is graduate.
Operating with an offer to joinPenn medicine's residency
program, to work in theiroperating room with ambitions of
pursuing a master's degree.
(20:09):
I will say that he found thatstability. Please welcome Health
Sciences President's Awardwinner Joseph versilla, the
Joe,
good afternoon. Esteemedfaculty, proud family members,
distinguished guests, and mostimportantly, my fellow
(20:29):
graduates. My name is Joeversillo, and I'm an rcbc
nursing school graduate, and I'mvery honored to be one of the
speakers today.
Growing up as a quiet, low keykid in the small town of Port
Elgin, Ontario, Canada, I justwant to say that never in a
million years would I thoughtI'd be standing here at the age
of 43, years old, in New Jerseyas a nursing school graduate,
(20:50):
talking in front of you alltoday. My mind is blown right
now.
After graduating from university20 years ago in Canada, I was
sort of like a feather floatingdown a stream going wherever the
current took me. I workedwhatever odd job came my way,
and instead of focusing on acareer, I focused more on my
hobbies of playing hockey,surfing and making music. No
(21:10):
regrets there. I got to travelthe world and do what I loved.
But 15 years later, I started towonder why I'd never found a
career in something that I waspassionate about and gave me a
stable income.
Looking back on it now, Irealized it was because I was
pessimistic and had a defeatistattitude. I was convinced that I
was never good enough or smartenough to have a decent career
(21:31):
with decent pay. I thought itwas impossible. I would make up
excuse after excuse why Icouldn't get a good job. I'd
have to go back to school. I'mtoo old to go back to school.
How would I pay for it? I'm notsmart enough. Things like that.
Then I met my wife, Imogen,
(21:51):
and she turned things around forme, specifically in my way of
thinking. She turned me frombeing a whiner into a doer. She
taught me that if I reallywanted something in life, I'd
have to at least give it anhonest try. I'd have to go out
there and work hard for it.
After we got married, I knew Ihad to step it up to be your
husband. We started tobrainstorm on possible careers I
(22:11):
could do. She asked me, whatwould your dream job be? I said,
that's easy firefighting. Well,why don't you do that?
And the old me immediatelyreplied, there's no way I would
need to take a chemistry course,and I basically failed chemistry
in high school. Plus, I'm tooold to be a firefighter. Now
nobody would ever hire me.
But after receiving a stern lookfrom my wife that said, what did
(22:34):
we just talk about? No excuses,I began to do some research. And
guess what? My excuses werewrong. Many fire departments
hire candidates over 35 yearsold, and you don't need
chemistry, you can join avolunteer fire department and go
to fire school.
So that's just what I did. Andit was through that four month
course that I discovered twothings. One was Rowan College at
(22:56):
Burlington County, where the EMTcourse was held. Second thing I
discovered was a passion foremergency medicine. Right after
I was certified in late 2019 Istarted to look into RC BCS
nursing program. After readingup on it and seeing how
competitive it was to get in, Iwas a little intimidated and
discouraged. It had been nearly20 years since I was last in
university, and back then, I wasa mediocre student at best with
(23:18):
a solid B average. The
self doubt and uncertaintystarted to flood back into my
mind. Should I even try to dothis? I would have to take a
full year of prerequisitecourses and pretty much get all
A's just to apply to the nursingprogram. Then I figured, you
know what? I doubted myself tonever become a firefighter. So
let's give this a go. Well, witha lot of hard work and
(23:39):
discipline, I ended up with a4.0 average in those
prerequisites, and when I gotthat acceptance email from the
nursing department, I almostcried. I could not believe it.
So let that be a message foreveryone. You're never too old
or too young to do anything.Don't be afraid to try new
things and push yourself evenwhen something might seem
impossible. Don't let thoseexcuses in your mind overtake
(24:00):
your work ethic andperseverance. Just put yourself
out there and never give up. Andif one thing doesn't work out,
keep trying other things.
You'll find your callings. And Isay that plurally, because you
never know where life's gonnatake you. I'm living proof of
that. Now I'd like to leave youwith one last thing. This is a
revised quote from the HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers that I
(24:21):
tailored for us graduates today,
my fellow graduates, it's been along few years. It's been a
tough few years. You studieddiligently, courageously for
yourself, classmates, family andfriends. You're a special group.
You found in one another, a bondthat exists only in college
among sisters and brothers,
you've shared study sessions,study notes, study strategies,
(24:46):
YouTube tutorials, and held eachother in dire moments. You've
seen sickness, bad grades, apandemic, and have struggled
together. Some of us have evenlost loved ones during this
time.
But you've also seen hope andrecovery.
And celebrated after passingeach of these grueling
semesters, I'm proud to begraduating with each and every
one of you. You all deservelong, fulfilling and gainful
(25:08):
careers in each of your fieldsof study.
Thank you. And once again,congratulations to the class of
2024,
I love how Joe revised one of myfavorite TV Shows of All Times
in band of brothers and spun ina way to encourage and inspire
the class of 2024 if you want tohear his full speech, though,
which included thanking facultyand loved ones and goes a little
(25:29):
deeper into his personal successstory, taking him here to the
age of 43 to get his degree, youcan head over to rcbc YouTube
channel and watch thecommencement live stream there.
Meanwhile, one of my favoritethings to do for the program pod
commencement special, is toactually speak with some of the
graduating students on the quadafter the ceremony, while
they're taking some selfies withloved ones and asking about
their experiences attendingrcbc. So let's take a listen to
(25:51):
what they had to say. All right,we're down on the quad here.
Liberal Arts just got donegraduating, and I'm here with
Alyssa. Alyssa, where are youfrom? I'm from Burlington, New
Jersey. What was your major? Mymajor was theater, liberal arts
and option of theater. So yeah,I got you. So where are you
going to next? Who knows? I'mgoing to say Disney World,
because that's what the footballplayers say. I love that one. No
one's got that answer yet. Sowhat was your experience here?
(26:14):
Going to rcbc. It was fun. Itwas difficult because of covid.
Everything went online, but I'mglad that I made it through it.
And what are you gonna miss mostabout here? Oh, no, just the
atmosphere, everything. I don'tknow, a lot of interesting
people here. So, all right,well, congratulations and good
luck. Okay, all right, now I gotsomeone who actually had their
own podcast here, Madeline.Madeline, what's your full name?
(26:36):
My name is Madeline shaber, andI'm a psychology major here at
rcbc, which you just graduated,right? So you're what's the next
step? So I am in the three plusone program at rcbc, and I'm
gonna get my bachelor's nextspring with Rowan University. So
yeah, and we got some otherthings you're gonna be a part of
(26:59):
that's kind of a parting gift wehave to us is that you have the
SGA podcast here in rcbc PodcastNetwork, which we're going to be
launching over the summer time,maybe depending on when you're
listening to this podcast. Whatis that about that you put
together? So basically, the SGAsit down series, the SGA
officers and president, which Iwas the president, we all made
(27:19):
the podcast, and it's to get toknow the rcbc community. So
basically, if you don't know alot about the community, take a
listen in, because there's somegood resources that we have for
you guys. Yeah, you're gonna betalking even to the President.
We got public safety, all typesof things. I think the students
here at rcbc are gonna wanna youknow hear about. But in the
meantime, what was one of yourfavorite memories here at rcbc?
(27:40):
Oh, one of my favorite memoriesthat I had at rcbc was
definitely doing the SGA sitdown series podcast. That was
the highlight of my gear. That'sbecause you get to work with me.
Yeah, Jay is awesome. Guys. Allright.
Maddie, congratulations. I'll beseeing around campus with three
plus one. But again, kudos. Allright, thank you. So I found
somebody else here on a quad.What's your name? Lucas. Lucas,
(28:02):
where are you from? Marlton, NewJersey, Marlton. All right, you
go to Cherokee? Yeah, sorry tohear that. My wife's the
Cherokee chief. I was ShawneeRenegades there. So what was
your major businessadministration? Very cool. So
what's your next step going forbachelor's now at Rowan, Rowan
University. Okay, so I wentthere as well. So at least we
can kind of merge there. JackieShawnee, right? So what was one
(28:23):
of your favorite experienceshere, going to rcbc, just
getting to learn more about, youknow, the field, and getting to
apply it to my everyday life,and, you know where I work, so
it's nice. And what do you thinkyou're gonna miss most about
here? Honestly, just a greatcommunity here. It's very
personable and very, you know,helpful. I'm sure I'll get that
at Rowan. But, you know, herehas been nice for that. So if
(28:44):
there's any parting wishes, ifyou're a student speaker out
there on the, you know, on thestage, what would you say to
your fellow classmates,honestly, just keep at it. You
know, there, there is a light atthe end of the tunnel, like we
all just said, you know, justkeep working at it. Well,
congratulations again. Good luckat Rowan. Thank you. So we're
roaming through the crowd here.It's starting to rain just a
little bit, but we still gotbit, but we still got some
sunshine going on. Who am Ispeaking with? Aaliyah Robinson.
(29:07):
Aaliyah Robinson, where are youfrom? Well, I live in Mount
Holly, right? Mount Holly. Okay,so what was your major? Criminal
Justice, criminal justice, andwhat's going to be the next step
here after graduating rcbc?Well, I'm in the three plus one
program, so I'm going to becontinuing my studies our CBC,
so you can stay right here oncampus, but going through Rowan,
right? So how was yourexperience of going through our
CBC? It was nice. The professorsare really nice, and they help
(29:28):
each other out. So if there'sany inspiring words you want to
give to your fellow classmates,what would it be? Keep pushing
through. Keep pushing through.And I hear you're also part of
EOF too, right? You want to givea shout out to U of, yeah. Shout
out to EOF. Miss Alyssa. She'shelped me a lot. So thank you.
You're welcome. Congratulations.All right, good luck with
everything. All right. So right,how you're under quad and the
stem and Health Sciencesgraduates are now out there
(29:49):
taking the pictures of Barry andsuch and talking to some of the
graduates here. Who am I with?Lolita Martinez. Lolita, where
are you from? I'm from here.Right here, Mount Laurel. Right
here. Mount Laurel. All right.So what we.
Your major nursing, nursing, allright, so you happy? Excited? I
am. I'm happy it was a longjourney, but I'm glad to be
done, and I'm excited to getstarted with my career. Yeah,
congratulations. Where's thatcareer gonna be? Where you
(30:10):
going? Pediatrics. So what wasit about rcbc, at Drew we here,
And was there anythingexperienced or, you know,
something that stood out, thatyou gonna miss? The friends I
made great friends while I washere, the students, we've been
through it together, you know,ups and downs like just, you
know, crying before an exam, andthen all passing and with
success together like that hasbrought us together for sure and
(30:31):
patient care, of course, justcaring for people and finding
our way. Is there any partingwords are we wanting to say for
your fellow graduates?Congratulations, you can do
anything. And this is not theend. It's the beginning. Keep
going, all right, so continuingto go out to the quad here. Who
am I with? Melissa free. AMelissa free. And where are you
from? I'm from Burlington, NewJersey, Burlington. Okay, and
what was your major here? Ithealth, information technology,
(30:53):
okay? And how's that experiencehere at rcbc? Experience has
been so good. You know, being amom of two, it was very hard,
but by the grace of God, I didit. I accomplished it. I said I
was going to go back to school,and I accomplished that goal. It
wasn't that bad, right? It was.It was a smooth journey. What
are you going to miss about thisplace, the community, everybody
in the togetherness, everybodysupporting each other, that is
(31:15):
what I'm going to miss the most.And some parting words for your
fellow classmates. Keep goinghigher, and remember, the sky is
the limit, so keep pushing andkeep moving forward. Well,
congratulations again. Seemslike I have a popular person on
campus here saying hello toeverybody. What's your name?
Hey, it's me. Fauci you mightknow me just walking around from
AV, just, you know, fixing stuffup in rooms and such, but now
(31:37):
you're walking around campuswith a little bit of a tassel
and capping down because you'rea graduate. Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you. Yup, I'mout here. I got my beautiful
family that supported me. I gotmy beautiful group of friends
here. We won second place. Alsoin, like, a cyber security
competition in the whole nation,we play second place. It's been
awesome. You guys got secondhuh? Okay, so I was gonna follow
(31:59):
up with that because obviously,so for those that don't know
that been listening to the showcyber security, which we had on
a couple a couple of months ago,I think Jordan thoughts were on
there, because you guys tookyour top 10 in one of the
national competitions for cybersecurity, and now you got
second, which is awesome. Sothat's what your major is, I
guess, right, that is my major.It's cyber security. And we keep
(32:19):
moving on up. We're not gonnasettle. We're gonna get that
first place. What could you sayabout that cybersecurity program
here at rcbc? Then I honestlythink some it's amazing. It's
definitely the bestcybersecurity program. We
learned so much together. We gotpeople like Professor Warner,
Professor, you know, Dr simber.We got Professor Big as well,
and we have an amazing amount ofpeople and staff like in the
(32:40):
tech building, we got Dr Tay Tayshout out to him and Dr Kenny,
they helped us so much. Youknow, they really facilitated
our journey to Florida. Theyhelp us get the resources that
we need. They also gave us theinformation and gave us the
knowledge to make it to where weare today, and here you are. And
said graduating, moving on tothe next thing about to go be
cyber security man of the yearor something like that. But
(33:03):
again, congratulations. Wouldyou like to say to your fellow
classmates? I would say, keep atit. You know, even, even in
moments where you feel likeyou're down at your worst, you
can keep pushing through andkeep going. Life is always going
to test you. You got to betougher than that. All right,
Fauci your people are callingyou guys more handshakes to go
do and everything.Congratulations. Once again,
take care and that, my friend,right there is why I love doing
this show. It's the culminationof why we're here working in
(33:25):
higher ed in the first place, tosee and help each student
achieve their goals and listento the smiles and their voices
as they celebrate this specialoccasion of success. So many
great examples right there,including a mom of two powering
through, a cyber securitygraduate who was on a team that
landed a national awardrecognition, and so many other
great messages. The commontheme, though, when asked about
what they're going to miss aboutrcbc, the community, and I'm
(33:46):
proud to be a part of that, theother common theme I heard
throughout the students issaying, Don't ever give up. Keep
pushing. So my advice to you is,if you're considering going back
to school or starting for thefirst time, you can do it, you
just have to take the firststep. So if you're interested in
any of the programs rcbc has tooffer, you can check out
rcbc.edu you'll find informationon degrees. You can schedule
campus visits, apply for studentloans, whatever you'll need.
(34:09):
We'll help you in the next stepof your educational journey for
now, this is Jay Varga, and thiswraps up our summer series
special. It's not really easy tosay, but yes, our summer series
special reflecting on the May2024, commencement, a new school
year is about to start, and Ilook forward to getting back in
the studio and breaking downmore programs rcbc has to offer.
So until the next episode, enjoythe rest of your summer, and
(34:29):
we'll catch up soon. Thanks forlistening, and don't forget to
subscribe to the program pod,wherever you get your podcast,
so you never miss a show.Cheers.
Welcome to the program.Pod, a national award winning
program on the RCBC PodcastNetwork which takes a deep dive
into the programs offered atrcbc through different
perspectives of students,faculty and employers. Yeah,
national award winning podcast.That's right one and only. Jay
Varga here back, I think partthree here for the episodes of
the commencement series for 2024the May commencement. Because
(00:21):
again, we have twocommencements. Now we have a
spring one and then winter.Because some people graduate
over the summer and fall, theydon't want to wait all the way
around till spring, so we honorthem and for the Winter
Commencement. And so it's goodtimes. But yeah, third part, and
got another speaker here,President Award winner for the
other third one, which is JosephVercillo, Joe, right. Yes. Cool.
(00:42):
How you doing, man, good. Howare you, Jay, I'm doing good. So
got to hear a little bit of yourspeech. Yeah. Are you ready to
speak in front of yourclassmates? No, I'm never ready
to speak in front of a crowd.That's, yeah, that's not usually
me. So it's kind of nervewracking, but I think I'll be,
the more I rehearse, the betterit'll be, yeah, yeah. It's a
little different too. You know,we're so we're back here in Voda
(01:04):
Hall, obviously, the MountLaurel campus, but this is where
the Winter Commencement is. And,you know, go on the podium, we
get to hear how you sound alittle bit, but it's totally
different when you're out thereon the quad, bigger PA system,
you know, bigger speakers andsuch, and there's a little bit
of, like, a reverb. Sometimesyour voice will bounce off the
wall back to Yeah, yeah. So wewill test that out a little bit.
(01:25):
So if anybody's listening, youknow, obviously the podcast or
the graduation already happened,because we're going to be
interviewing some of thestudents a little bit later on,
which we'll, you know, we'llhear later on in the program, as
well as part of the commencementtoo. But do you think you're
ready to actually speak in frontof a pretty big crowd? I think
so. I know it like my speech,I'm not completely it's not as
(01:47):
smooth as I'd like it to be,like, with, like, what you gave
me some pointers today, which isawesome, and that I think that's
gonna help me a lot, and but II'm always most nervous before I
actually get up there. And onceI'm up there, I think I'm okay,
yeah, it's always gonna be thejitters, right? Like an athlete
before game, or even myselfbefore, like when I used to
teach twice, kind of the teacherside of me coming out, trying to
(02:09):
give you a couple of pointersin, in the speech and, you know,
and delivery and such, but Iwould get a little bit of
butterflies before my students.And then, right, get in a
classroom, it's like the lightswitch, you know, yeah, you're
off and running. Then you're,Yeah, you're good to go. But
during your speech, you weretalking a little bit, you know,
you said you're all in hockeyand surfing and music and
(02:30):
recording music. Do you playlive music in front of people? I
used to, yeah, lots of shows. Soyou're already ready. I got
Yeah, I'm a little rusty, Iguess. But I guess you never,
you never, kind of lose that ina way, yeah, what kind of music
was it? It was so that was in apunk rock band in high school,
okay? And then then I got intosome acoustic stuff, sure, and
then back into the punk rock. Ihad a little band going for a
(02:52):
couple years in the early 200010s. Yeah, you still play not,
not as much as I'd like to, butyeah, I try, I try to get on the
guitar once in a while, righton, yeah, I still Mike knights
back in college days and hostthem and such.
Not that good of a singer, butthat's why I let my buddy sing,
and I was more the rhythmguitarist stuff. I like messing
around a little bit. I have mydaughter now, so she seems to be
(03:13):
infatuated with just sounds,right music. I got her on a
xylophone, but she really loveswalking up and grabbing the
microphone, just being like, ah.
So that's awesome. So hopefullydust off my guitar a little bit
for her. Yeah, she'll love it,yeah. But all right, so we're
here because you are one of thepresident award winners.
Congratulations. Thank you, bythe way. And so you're speaking
(03:34):
front of Health Sciences. Yes,yeah, right. So because you're
already graduating for theHealth Sciences class, yes, I
am. First things first. Why didyou apply to be a president's
award winner? Um, honestly, myuh, professor was she, kind of,
she emailed a few, few of us tokind of just kind of say, Yeah,
apply. You might get it. Andthat's, that's just how I found
(03:55):
out about I didn't actually knowthat that was happening. I
didn't know how they selectedthat Sure. I didn't know the
process. But, yeah, I had aninterview, and then I got the
call, and it was, it wasawesome. Who was your professor?
Professor, Professor, Rivera.Okay, yeah, so your story then,
like, how did you're fromCanada, stuff. So how do you end
up here? You know, rcbc. Yeah,it's good to know you. So, so I
(04:17):
met my wife through work, sokind of like, this goes back to
the music. So my friend and Iwere making music for for it was
kind of like soundtrack music,and we sell it on to license it
nice. And my wife just, I thinkshe found me on through YouTube.
It was like a random YouTube.One of our songs was on YouTube,
(04:37):
and she clicked on it. She likedone of the, you know, made, had
a comment or something thatsaid, you know, I like your
music. I replied. And then webecame friends, and then we try.
She's a she's a writer, and shehas a fiction fiction series
called the portal Chronicles,okay? And she wanted to do a.
(05:00):
An audio book, and that's how weconnected. So she wanted to have
a theme music for that, so wecollaborated to make a song for
that, and that's how we met. Sowe were friends for years, and
then finally we met in person.We kind of hit it off, and then
I've been coming back and forthever since. So she's from out
here. Yeah, she's from Swedenoriginally, and then she's,
she's been living here in the USsince, I think 2001 okay, where
(05:23):
in the US was, yeah, we seeright here in Jersey. Yes,
always in Jersey. Okay, okay, soPrinceton, Princeton area, okay,
all right. So here, you know,end up at rcbc.
You know, you're a littleweathered like myself. Yeah,
right. So, how did you find yourway? I mean, so, Marty, Marty,
your story is that you're,you're a 43 year old graduate,
right? Because you want to goout and do the whole surfing and
(05:44):
hockey and music and, you know,kind of go out live your life
and figure things out as itgoes, exactly, right? I feel
like there was, like, you canmaybe kind of look back on it,
like, maybe I should have got amore stable job. But no, I know
what's the purpose. I don'tregret it exactly. It's like
life experience. So, yeah,that's, yeah, you know, I always
like to say it's kind of cliche,is it? But the light will show
(06:04):
you its way. Yeah, there's, youknow, that experience. You
probably wouldn't, you wouldhave never met your wife. I
wouldn't exactly right? Yeah,never met getting goosebumps,
yeah? Because that's, that's,that was the purpose. It's just
a connection there. Yeah, so,but you're here, so obviously,
health sciences, you're relatedto that. Why did you choose or
what is your major specifically,and why did you choose that,
right? So my my major is nursingand so, so, like I said in my
(06:29):
speech, we me and my wife weregoing over things that I could
possibly do. So she asked me,like, what, what was your dream
job when you're a kid? And Isaid, firefighting, that was
what I wanted to do. And
she's like, let's try that. Sowe, I called my local volunteer
company up in West Windsor
got, like, they pretty much putme right into fire school. And
(06:52):
then they're gonna say fire waslike, No,
literally, I remember get thefirst day I got my my gear, and
they're like, You got gear. Andthen the call came in, like, hop
on the truck. I was scared,sure, but, and then, yeah, it's
one of those things you just,you get thrown in, and you hit
the ground running, yeah. Sothen from there, I got my EMT
(07:12):
certification, like the medicineside of it, like the the medical
side, and then, yeah, I foundthe nursing program, and I
applied and got in, and just,that's the process has just been
going so, and here I am. Yeah,fine, you are, and a president's
award winner speaking classmatesand everything else shocked. So
life sometimes comes at youfast. It does, yeah, a little
(07:32):
bit later, but fast, yeah, youknow when it does. So I love
seeing that drive. It's a greatstory. It's just kind of, you
know, goes to show you'rereferring to your speech, which
I will play a little clip lateron, because we will be
broadcasting the speech live toYouTube, so anybody in the world
can be, you know, checking itout. It'll be archived later,
but I'm going to pull some ofthe audio clips that I'll put on
this podcast a little bit later.But in that speech, you're
(07:54):
talking about some of thoseexcuses. And sometimes even I
had it because I was like, Iwanted to go back to school,
possibly to go into masters,because I'm getting a little
more curious with, you know,computer science, right? And
cyber security, because now theyhandle the website as well here
at school. It's like, I'vealways enjoyed computers, but I
took the radio broadcastingroute, right? And I learned all
experience and everything else.But, you know, radio is kind of
(08:17):
a little cut throat. It's not asmuch job security as, say, cyber
security and stuff. But then Istart to think, Am I too old to
go back? You know, I'm gonnahave time to do this. I just
have my daughter. Where am Ireally gonna find that time? And
these are the questions, butyou're a living example of it.
You know, it's never too old togo back. Never too old. Yeah, I
didn't know that until, like,like I was saying, I kept making
those excuses of why I couldn'tdo certain things, like, like,
(08:41):
firefighter. I thought I neededchemistry to do that. No way I'm
ever passing a chemistry course,which, by the way, I did, yeah,
all right, school. Okay, sothat's another thing where you
kind of like doubt yourself, butthen you realize, hey, I can do
this.
But yeah, it was bio for me,actually. Bio, yeah, chemistry
was easy because I'm good withmy math formulas and everything.
Yeah? Bio, though, no, that wasthe one. That was the one
(09:03):
subject that was just that welland art history. But I was like,
because it was a Monday nightfrom like, seven to 10 or
whatever. It was, just on allall slides, it was tough to just
keep my attention. Yeah, there,but yeah, bio was the tough one.
So frame of bio major out there.Kudos to you, because you,
you're a lot smarter than I am,but so you're here, get to get
some of the experiences, andyou're gonna be on your way. But
(09:24):
what was some of the memorableexperiences you had here at
rcbc? Oh, there's a lot. I thinkthe main ones were from my so I
did a co op through MorristownFire Department. So basically I
was there two days a week, doinglike, on calls, kind of for
calls there during the day. Andthat was amazing, because I,
(09:45):
like, it was, it was kind oflike they, they welcomed me into
their fam. Like it was like thefire family always seems like a
brotherhood. Yeah, it's, oh,it's, it was, it was awesome. So
two days a week I could gothere. They had, they had a
little office for for me. I gotall my my schoolwork done for
the week.
And then, yeah, when the callwould come in, we'd get out
there, and, you know, yeah, itwas great. But those are some of
(10:07):
my best memories. That's a greatexperience for it, yeah. And
they have some great programshere at rcbc, yeah. So what are
you gonna miss most about thisplace then? Oh,
I would say the people I metlike that. That's, I think
that's obvious, the connection,yeah, it's very you kind of take
it for granted, too, when you'rehere, and then all of a sudden,
(10:27):
everybody's going theirdifferent directions, and you
hope that you can keep in touch,but sometimes you don't see them
again. So, but that's what I'mgonna I'm gonna miss, is the
those those friendships, Iguess. Okay, so where are you
headed next? So right now I havea job lined up at Penn Medicine
in Princeton, as in theresidency program for nursing.
(10:47):
So gonna be in the or there,and, yeah, I'm just gonna take
it from there, see what, seewhat happens. I'm just gonna try
to, you know, be the best nurseI can be for a few years, and
then, you know, keep myeducation going. Maybe become a
nurse practitioner down theroad, or, I don't know yet, but
are you? Are you stabbing peoplewith needles? Not yet,
(11:08):
my terror thing, yeah, yeah. Allright. So part of me, you know,
trying to get you ready forthose next steps. And you said,
you know, you kind of have abunch of Iceman goals. You're
graduating and such is alsopreparing you for some real
world interview questions,right? In case you got to get
out there? Sure, and it's alittle different for nursing.
It's not as, I don't know, youknow, it's kind of very specific
in knowing what you have to do,yeah, right, not like you're
(11:30):
applying to go to some notnecessarily like a law firm or
whatever it is, but I like toask these, you know, out of the
box questions, just to make sureyou get your brain thinking and
be ready if you're on the fly.So if you could choose one song
to play every time you walkedinto a room, what would you
choose? And why? Oh, man, whatsong? Oh music guy too. Yeah,
(11:51):
that's a really awkward one.
Um,
that's a tough one. Uh, okay, Igotta go make your walk up song
to the plate. You know what Imean, where they're Nirvana,
breed,
okay, all right. I like thatgood rocking, yeah? All right.
So little different here. But sowhat do you think about when
you're alone in your car? Oh,I'm usually listen listening to
(12:15):
podcasts.
You're not thinking at all.You're just kind of, oh yeah,
just drifting off, yeah. But ifI'm not, it's, it's thinking
about what I got to pick up onmy way home for the for
groceries, usually the
honey do list, yeah, yeah,exactly. I know that. And
usually I still forget, I forgetthe one thing I write some stuff
down, I'd still somehow, she'slike, Yeah, the whole purpose of
(12:35):
you going to the store was topick up, you know, the milk or
whatever, yeah, but I got allthis others, yeah, right. I
always say, if it wasn't on thelist and I didn't get it, yeah,
I'm usually now have mydaughter. I had like, such dad
brain going on that I just can'tI can barely remember. I'm
always just forgetting stuff,Lisa, I don't forget my
daughter, you know, yeah, themost important part, what do you
think of garden gnomes? Oh,garden gnomes, yeah. So it was,
(12:59):
that's kind of funny that. Sothere's a little path in my
neighborhood up in West Windsorthat people would just put
random gnomes down. They call itgnome village. Oh, really, yeah.
So we, me and my wife have kindof got a collection going in the
woods there. So okay, we got, wehave two wiener dogs at home. So
(13:20):
we got two wiener dog gnomes, Iguess, with little gnomes riding
the wiener dogs. So then we putthem down in the forest. So I
like them. I like I like gnomes,not expecting that answer.
Was not ready for that one.That's why I like someone asking
some of these questions, yeah,if you could compare yourself to
an animal, what would it be? Andwhy? Oh, I'd have to go, this
(13:44):
is, I guess this would be, thisis preschool. Me sure would be a
sea turtle. I feel like I wouldbe a sea turtle. Just, you know,
look at that violin going aroundthe world. Yeah, I think it's
more water. Yeah, I can see the,I see the sort of surfing, kind
of come back a little bit too,yeah, full scale. I think we're
right in that same boat, yeah?Music, surfing, sports, you said
(14:06):
hockey and hockey team. What'syour hockey team? Oh, devils.
I've always been a devils fan. Igrew up taking you off the
podcast already, Philly here,yeah. So you're from Canada. You
like a devils Yeah. So I grew upin the Toronto area. Okay, I've
do not like leave fans. I justdidn't like that. I didn't want
to jump on the bandwagon there.So not really much a bandwagon.
(14:29):
They keep losing. They'rehorrible. But and being a
goalie, I was a Martin Broderfan, so that's, yeah, the
devils. I gotta respect mark andBroder, but he kept the flyers
from winning. You know, yeah,stupid trap game that kept the
trap. It was boring, but itworked. Yeah, it did work. But
hopefully the flyers get back ontrack eventually. I thought
that, actually, I thought thedevils are going to do something
(14:50):
this year, especially making allthose those moves and bringing
him. And then they didn't even,they didn't make the playoffs
now, then they started tradingoff, trading off everybody. But
we could talk.
Sports. Keep on going, butcouple more questions, and we'll
get ready to wrap things up.Would you rather fight 100 duck
sized horses or one horse sizedduck?
(15:12):
Oh, I'm going with the 100 ducksized what was it? 100 duck
sized horses? Yeah, or one horsesized duck. I'm gonna go for the
hundreds, yeah? Why? Um, I feellike I could, I could, I could
step on them or something. A lotof them, there's a lot. And I
can run. I don't know that's atough one. I don't think I can
(15:33):
take a big duck, though. Yeah, abig horse sized duck. I don't
know what they're gonna do withtheir big beak and everything
else. Yeah, that's what I'mafraid of. Yeah, no wrong
answer. There's no wrong answer.
All right, this is the importantquestion, though, right? How
would you rate me as aninterviewer? I would rate 10 out
of 10, right? Yeah, very. Likeyou make the guests comfortable.
(15:54):
It's like, you get some goodquestions going and good reports
not. It's not like, dry oranything. You gotta try get some
pants going. Well, yeah, ithelps when I have good, good
personalities like yourself,right? I can see, and I can see
why, too. It's just anotherreason. You know, they awarded
you the President's Awardwinner, one of the three.
Obviously, we as, again, we havespeeches going on for liberal
(16:16):
arts stem and then what you'regoing to be doing for Health
Sciences, which you're gonna bespeaking, I think, right after
the governor of New Jersey, Yes,I heard that. Yeah, yes. So they
asked for your credentials andeverything else you did not.
Yeah. They're starting to,they're starting to ask all of
us in our backgrounds andeverything else. Yeah, you don't
want my background. I'll befarther away, though. I'll be
fine. I'll be running aroundwith the mascot out there
(16:37):
somewhere and a microphoneinterviewing some people. So
I'll be far away from thegovernor. They're good. Yeah,
so, but Joe, again, you know,congratulations. Thank you.
Great story to share. Is thereany advice you'd like to say to
your peers or the rest of theyou know, 2024, spring
graduates? Yeah, before we gothere, I would say, just have
(16:57):
fun. And because these theseyears go by really quickly. And
yeah, just have fun. And whenyou go out there, don't make
excuses and not do somethingthat you're afraid of, that's
you know, you want to pursue.Just do it. Get out there and do
it. Yeah, you're the livingexample. Yeah, you know what I
mean. You thought of some of theexcuses you couldn't Yeah, your
wife steps in, and she kind ofjust kept you focused. And here
(17:20):
you are living early, 43graduating and on to be doing
some better things. Anythingelse you want to add promote
somebody want to shout out wifeparents. Say hi to my wife,
Imogen and my stepdaughter,Lauren and our two dogs. All
right. All right. Well, again,Congrats, man. Thanks. Looking
forward to hearing you, andwe'll see you out there. Thanks.
Thanks. Appreciate it, and theregoes. Joe. So happy he was
(17:41):
chosen one of the President'sAward winners for the class of
2024, as he carries such a greatoutlook on life, such a
wonderful inspiration for nontraditional prospective
students, and setting a greatexample that it's never too late
to further your education, nomatter how old you are, right
there again, graduating at theage of 43 and looks forward to
doing so much for and speakingof Joe's inspiration. Let's now
(18:01):
take you to rcbc. President, DrMichael CEO sees introduction of
Joe at the Health Sciencescommencement, and a portion of
his speech to his fellowclassmates, to our graduates,
your degree certifies that youpossess knowledge and the
mastery of skills. Earning thisdegree is a testament to your
character and work ethic. It's abadge of honor that you can
proudly show the world as proofthat you're Career Ready, Life
tested and one tough Baron.
(18:24):
As the data shows, the fact thatyou chose the best community
college in the state of NewJersey already proves that you
were smarter than most. Next up,we're going to hear from a very
impressive Baron, as I mentionedthis afternoon. Ceremony
combines two academic divisions,health sciences and science
technology, engineering andmathematics with a student
speaker representing eachdivision. The rich diversity of
(18:45):
our community college isreflected by the fact that each
speaker has joined our communityfrom another country, one from
Canada and another from Nigeria.
Their stories are verydifferent, but each reinforces
the theme that America, despiteour problems, remains a land of
opportunity for anyone willingto dream big, plan well and work
hard.
(19:05):
Our first speaker wants to helpsave lives, both in his career
as a nurse and a volunteerfirefighter.
Joseph for solo grew up inCanada, where he described
himself as an average studentwho lacked ambition, drifting
from jobs and spending his life,surfing, playing hockey and
music. Actually, that soundslike one of my life goals. I got
(19:28):
to get those kids out of thehouse first, though. So Joe met
a girl who was living in NewJersey. Things got serious, and
it was time to find more stableliving. A desire to help people
led him to rcbc, EMT program toenhance his skills for a career
in firefighting. Here at rcbc,he gained a new confidence and
appreciation and discipline forschool. He pushed himself to
(19:49):
apply for and ultimatelycomplete rcbc competitive
nursing program at 43 years old.
Today, he is graduate.
Operating with an offer to joinPenn medicine's residency
program, to work in theiroperating room with ambitions of
pursuing a master's degree.
(20:09):
I will say that he found thatstability. Please welcome Health
Sciences President's Awardwinner Joseph versilla, the
Joe,
good afternoon. Esteemedfaculty, proud family members,
distinguished guests, and mostimportantly, my fellow
(20:29):
graduates. My name is Joeversillo, and I'm an rcbc
nursing school graduate, and I'mvery honored to be one of the
speakers today.
Growing up as a quiet, low keykid in the small town of Port
Elgin, Ontario, Canada, I justwant to say that never in a
million years would I thoughtI'd be standing here at the age
of 43, years old, in New Jerseyas a nursing school graduate,
(20:50):
talking in front of you alltoday. My mind is blown right
now.
After graduating from university20 years ago in Canada, I was
sort of like a feather floatingdown a stream going wherever the
current took me. I workedwhatever odd job came my way,
and instead of focusing on acareer, I focused more on my
hobbies of playing hockey,surfing and making music. No
(21:10):
regrets there. I got to travelthe world and do what I loved.
But 15 years later, I started towonder why I'd never found a
career in something that I waspassionate about and gave me a
stable income.
Looking back on it now, Irealized it was because I was
pessimistic and had a defeatistattitude. I was convinced that I
was never good enough or smartenough to have a decent career
(21:31):
with decent pay. I thought itwas impossible. I would make up
excuse after excuse why Icouldn't get a good job. I'd
have to go back to school. I'mtoo old to go back to school.
How would I pay for it? I'm notsmart enough. Things like that.
Then I met my wife, Imogen,
(21:51):
and she turned things around forme, specifically in my way of
thinking. She turned me frombeing a whiner into a doer. She
taught me that if I reallywanted something in life, I'd
have to at least give it anhonest try. I'd have to go out
there and work hard for it.
After we got married, I knew Ihad to step it up to be your
husband. We started tobrainstorm on possible careers I
(22:11):
could do. She asked me, whatwould your dream job be? I said,
that's easy firefighting. Well,why don't you do that?
And the old me immediatelyreplied, there's no way I would
need to take a chemistry course,and I basically failed chemistry
in high school. Plus, I'm tooold to be a firefighter. Now
nobody would ever hire me.
But after receiving a stern lookfrom my wife that said, what did
(22:34):
we just talk about? No excuses,I began to do some research. And
guess what? My excuses werewrong. Many fire departments
hire candidates over 35 yearsold, and you don't need
chemistry, you can join avolunteer fire department and go
to fire school.
So that's just what I did. Andit was through that four month
course that I discovered twothings. One was Rowan College at
(22:56):
Burlington County, where the EMTcourse was held. Second thing I
discovered was a passion foremergency medicine. Right after
I was certified in late 2019 Istarted to look into RC BCS
nursing program. After readingup on it and seeing how
competitive it was to get in, Iwas a little intimidated and
discouraged. It had been nearly20 years since I was last in
university, and back then, I wasa mediocre student at best with
(23:18):
a solid B average. The
self doubt and uncertaintystarted to flood back into my
mind. Should I even try to dothis? I would have to take a
full year of prerequisitecourses and pretty much get all
A's just to apply to the nursingprogram. Then I figured, you
know what? I doubted myself tonever become a firefighter. So
let's give this a go. Well, witha lot of hard work and
(23:39):
discipline, I ended up with a4.0 average in those
prerequisites, and when I gotthat acceptance email from the
nursing department, I almostcried. I could not believe it.
So let that be a message foreveryone. You're never too old
or too young to do anything.Don't be afraid to try new
things and push yourself evenwhen something might seem
impossible. Don't let thoseexcuses in your mind overtake
(24:00):
your work ethic andperseverance. Just put yourself
out there and never give up. Andif one thing doesn't work out,
keep trying other things.
You'll find your callings. And Isay that plurally, because you
never know where life's gonnatake you. I'm living proof of
that. Now I'd like to leave youwith one last thing. This is a
revised quote from the HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers that I
(24:21):
tailored for us graduates today,
my fellow graduates, it's been along few years. It's been a
tough few years. You studieddiligently, courageously for
yourself, classmates, family andfriends. You're a special group.
You found in one another, a bondthat exists only in college
among sisters and brothers,
you've shared study sessions,study notes, study strategies,
(24:46):
YouTube tutorials, and held eachother in dire moments. You've
seen sickness, bad grades, apandemic, and have struggled
together. Some of us have evenlost loved ones during this
time.
But you've also seen hope andrecovery.
And celebrated after passingeach of these grueling
semesters, I'm proud to begraduating with each and every
one of you. You all deservelong, fulfilling and gainful
(25:08):
careers in each of your fieldsof study.
Thank you. And once again,congratulations to the class of
2024,
I love how Joe revised one of myfavorite TV Shows of All Times
in band of brothers and spun ina way to encourage and inspire
the class of 2024 if you want tohear his full speech, though,
which included thanking facultyand loved ones and goes a little
(25:29):
deeper into his personal successstory, taking him here to the
age of 43 to get his degree, youcan head over to rcbc YouTube
channel and watch thecommencement live stream there.
Meanwhile, one of my favoritethings to do for the program pod
commencement special, is toactually speak with some of the
graduating students on the quadafter the ceremony, while
they're taking some selfies withloved ones and asking about
their experiences attendingrcbc. So let's take a listen to
(25:51):
what they had to say. All right,we're down on the quad here.
Liberal Arts just got donegraduating, and I'm here with
Alyssa. Alyssa, where are youfrom? I'm from Burlington, New
Jersey. What was your major? Mymajor was theater, liberal arts
and option of theater. So yeah,I got you. So where are you
going to next? Who knows? I'mgoing to say Disney World,
because that's what the footballplayers say. I love that one. No
one's got that answer yet. Sowhat was your experience here?
(26:14):
Going to rcbc. It was fun. Itwas difficult because of covid.
Everything went online, but I'mglad that I made it through it.
And what are you gonna miss mostabout here? Oh, no, just the
atmosphere, everything. I don'tknow, a lot of interesting
people here. So, all right,well, congratulations and good
luck. Okay, all right, now I gotsomeone who actually had their
own podcast here, Madeline.Madeline, what's your full name?
(26:36):
My name is Madeline shaber, andI'm a psychology major here at
rcbc, which you just graduated,right? So you're what's the next
step? So I am in the three plusone program at rcbc, and I'm
gonna get my bachelor's nextspring with Rowan University. So
yeah, and we got some otherthings you're gonna be a part of
(26:59):
that's kind of a parting gift wehave to us is that you have the
SGA podcast here in rcbc PodcastNetwork, which we're going to be
launching over the summer time,maybe depending on when you're
listening to this podcast. Whatis that about that you put
together? So basically, the SGAsit down series, the SGA
officers and president, which Iwas the president, we all made
(27:19):
the podcast, and it's to get toknow the rcbc community. So
basically, if you don't know alot about the community, take a
listen in, because there's somegood resources that we have for
you guys. Yeah, you're gonna betalking even to the President.
We got public safety, all typesof things. I think the students
here at rcbc are gonna wanna youknow hear about. But in the
meantime, what was one of yourfavorite memories here at rcbc?
(27:40):
Oh, one of my favorite memoriesthat I had at rcbc was
definitely doing the SGA sitdown series podcast. That was
the highlight of my gear. That'sbecause you get to work with me.
Yeah, Jay is awesome. Guys. Allright.
Maddie, congratulations. I'll beseeing around campus with three
plus one. But again, kudos. Allright, thank you. So I found
somebody else here on a quad.What's your name? Lucas. Lucas,
(28:02):
where are you from? Marlton, NewJersey, Marlton. All right, you
go to Cherokee? Yeah, sorry tohear that. My wife's the
Cherokee chief. I was ShawneeRenegades there. So what was
your major businessadministration? Very cool. So
what's your next step going forbachelor's now at Rowan, Rowan
University. Okay, so I wentthere as well. So at least we
can kind of merge there. JackieShawnee, right? So what was one
(28:23):
of your favorite experienceshere, going to rcbc, just
getting to learn more about, youknow, the field, and getting to
apply it to my everyday life,and, you know where I work, so
it's nice. And what do you thinkyou're gonna miss most about
here? Honestly, just a greatcommunity here. It's very
personable and very, you know,helpful. I'm sure I'll get that
at Rowan. But, you know, herehas been nice for that. So if
(28:44):
there's any parting wishes, ifyou're a student speaker out
there on the, you know, on thestage, what would you say to
your fellow classmates,honestly, just keep at it. You
know, there, there is a light atthe end of the tunnel, like we
all just said, you know, justkeep working at it. Well,
congratulations again. Good luckat Rowan. Thank you. So we're
roaming through the crowd here.It's starting to rain just a
little bit, but we still gotbit, but we still got some
sunshine going on. Who am Ispeaking with? Aaliyah Robinson.
(29:07):
Aaliyah Robinson, where are youfrom? Well, I live in Mount
Holly, right? Mount Holly. Okay,so what was your major? Criminal
Justice, criminal justice, andwhat's going to be the next step
here after graduating rcbc?Well, I'm in the three plus one
program, so I'm going to becontinuing my studies our CBC,
so you can stay right here oncampus, but going through Rowan,
right? So how was yourexperience of going through our
CBC? It was nice. The professorsare really nice, and they help
(29:28):
each other out. So if there'sany inspiring words you want to
give to your fellow classmates,what would it be? Keep pushing
through. Keep pushing through.And I hear you're also part of
EOF too, right? You want to givea shout out to U of, yeah. Shout
out to EOF. Miss Alyssa. She'shelped me a lot. So thank you.
You're welcome. Congratulations.All right, good luck with
everything. All right. So right,how you're under quad and the
stem and Health Sciencesgraduates are now out there
(29:49):
taking the pictures of Barry andsuch and talking to some of the
graduates here. Who am I with?Lolita Martinez. Lolita, where
are you from? I'm from here.Right here, Mount Laurel. Right
here. Mount Laurel. All right.So what we.
Your major nursing, nursing, allright, so you happy? Excited? I
am. I'm happy it was a longjourney, but I'm glad to be
done, and I'm excited to getstarted with my career. Yeah,
congratulations. Where's thatcareer gonna be? Where you
(30:10):
going? Pediatrics. So what wasit about rcbc, at Drew we here,
And was there anythingexperienced or, you know,
something that stood out, thatyou gonna miss? The friends I
made great friends while I washere, the students, we've been
through it together, you know,ups and downs like just, you
know, crying before an exam, andthen all passing and with
success together like that hasbrought us together for sure and
(30:31):
patient care, of course, justcaring for people and finding
our way. Is there any partingwords are we wanting to say for
your fellow graduates?Congratulations, you can do
anything. And this is not theend. It's the beginning. Keep
going, all right, so continuingto go out to the quad here. Who
am I with? Melissa free. AMelissa free. And where are you
from? I'm from Burlington, NewJersey, Burlington. Okay, and
what was your major here? Ithealth, information technology,
(30:53):
okay? And how's that experiencehere at rcbc? Experience has
been so good. You know, being amom of two, it was very hard,
but by the grace of God, I didit. I accomplished it. I said I
was going to go back to school,and I accomplished that goal. It
wasn't that bad, right? It was.It was a smooth journey. What
are you going to miss about thisplace, the community, everybody
in the togetherness, everybodysupporting each other, that is
(31:15):
what I'm going to miss the most.And some parting words for your
fellow classmates. Keep goinghigher, and remember, the sky is
the limit, so keep pushing andkeep moving forward. Well,
congratulations again. Seemslike I have a popular person on
campus here saying hello toeverybody. What's your name?
Hey, it's me. Fauci you mightknow me just walking around from
AV, just, you know, fixing stuffup in rooms and such, but now
(31:37):
you're walking around campuswith a little bit of a tassel
and capping down because you'rea graduate. Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you. Yup, I'mout here. I got my beautiful
family that supported me. I gotmy beautiful group of friends
here. We won second place. Alsoin, like, a cyber security
competition in the whole nation,we play second place. It's been
awesome. You guys got secondhuh? Okay, so I was gonna follow
(31:59):
up with that because obviously,so for those that don't know
that been listening to the showcyber security, which we had on
a couple a couple of months ago,I think Jordan thoughts were on
there, because you guys tookyour top 10 in one of the
national competitions for cybersecurity, and now you got
second, which is awesome. Sothat's what your major is, I
guess, right, that is my major.It's cyber security. And we keep
(32:19):
moving on up. We're not gonnasettle. We're gonna get that
first place. What could you sayabout that cybersecurity program
here at rcbc? Then I honestlythink some it's amazing. It's
definitely the bestcybersecurity program. We
learned so much together. We gotpeople like Professor Warner,
Professor, you know, Dr simber.We got Professor Big as well,
and we have an amazing amount ofpeople and staff like in the
(32:40):
tech building, we got Dr Tay Tayshout out to him and Dr Kenny,
they helped us so much. Youknow, they really facilitated
our journey to Florida. Theyhelp us get the resources that
we need. They also gave us theinformation and gave us the
knowledge to make it to where weare today, and here you are. And
said graduating, moving on tothe next thing about to go be
cyber security man of the yearor something like that. But
(33:03):
again, congratulations. Wouldyou like to say to your fellow
classmates? I would say, keep atit. You know, even, even in
moments where you feel likeyou're down at your worst, you
can keep pushing through andkeep going. Life is always going
to test you. You got to betougher than that. All right,
Fauci your people are callingyou guys more handshakes to go
do and everything.Congratulations. Once again,
take care and that, my friend,right there is why I love doing
this show. It's the culminationof why we're here working in
(33:25):
higher ed in the first place, tosee and help each student
achieve their goals and listento the smiles and their voices
as they celebrate this specialoccasion of success. So many
great examples right there,including a mom of two powering
through, a cyber securitygraduate who was on a team that
landed a national awardrecognition, and so many other
great messages. The commontheme, though, when asked about
what they're going to miss aboutrcbc, the community, and I'm
(33:46):
proud to be a part of that, theother common theme I heard
throughout the students issaying, Don't ever give up. Keep
pushing. So my advice to you is,if you're considering going back
to school or starting for thefirst time, you can do it, you
just have to take the firststep. So if you're interested in
any of the programs rcbc has tooffer, you can check out
rcbc.edu you'll find informationon degrees. You can schedule
campus visits, apply for studentloans, whatever you'll need.
(34:09):
We'll help you in the next stepof your educational journey for
now, this is Jay Varga, and thiswraps up our summer series
special. It's not really easy tosay, but yes, our summer series
special reflecting on the May2024, commencement, a new school
year is about to start, and Ilook forward to getting back in
the studio and breaking downmore programs rcbc has to offer.
So until the next episode, enjoythe rest of your summer, and
(34:29):
we'll catch up soon. Thanks forlistening, and don't forget to
subscribe to the program pod,wherever you get your podcast,
so you never miss a show.Cheers.
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