January 16, 2025 • 28 mins
The Program Pod wraps up the RCBC 2024 Winter Commencement coverage by catching up with President's Award Bhagyasree Barman who was selected to speak for the Health Sciences division ceremony and provided a powerful and inspirational way to never give up. We'll also hear clips of the commencement live stream and take you down to the Student Success Center where Emmanuel Amarh interviewed a few graduates to share their experiences while attending RCBC.
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Unknown (00:00):
Music.
(00:01):
Welcome to the program. Pod, anational award winning program
on the rcbc Podcast Network,which takes a deep dive into the
programs offered at rcbc throughdifferent perspectives of
students, faculty and employers,with a little bit of a twist as
we are in part two here of theprogram. Pods, second annual
Winter Commencement special herefor rcbc as we get ready to head
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into 2025 man. Now, quickly thissemester went by, but yeah,
we're getting ready to honor thestudents that are ready to
graduate now, not having to waittill May. Hi, I'm Jay Varga, by
the way, the host, the producer,the one that just gets to sit
back and listen to thesestudents do their speeches and
stuff, but also bring eachindividual President's Award
winner from all three ceremoniesin here, and get to know them a
little bit more on a personalbasis. And now we have the one
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who's gonna be kicking thingsoff altogether for the Health
Sciences. We have Bagya Barman,yes, yes. Okay, I've been
trying, trying pretty good, likemy my phonetics here, but you
know, well, first of all,congratulations on being the
President's Award winner andgetting ready to speak in front
of the Health Sciences class.Thank you so much. Yeah. Are you
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excited? Are you ready? Very,very excited. And I'm ready to
go. Yeah, it's like you got acold practice runs in and
getting ready to do it live,which we will be, of course,
broadcasting. And by the timethat this podcast is aired. The
Commencement has alreadyhappened, and we'll go back and
listen to some of your podcasts.If people want to hear it, it's
broadcasting live in front of aworldwide audience. So we're
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getting Y'all ready for it, butit's almost show time, so you're
gonna be good to go. Right,right. Yeah, yeah. Have you
spoke in front of a crowd thissize before? Not this size? No,
no, but I have done a lot ofpublic speaking in high school.
Okay, so, yeah, so you a littlebit good there. So, you know, I
was like to kind of get into thepsyche of everything and get to
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know why, you know, you wantedto be a president's award
winner, applicant in the firstplace. I wanted to be an
applicant mostly because Iwanted to give my parents
something that they could justbe so proud of. I know that
they're, they are proud of me,but I just wanted to give them
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something tangible, like proofthat all your hard work has
actually paid off. Yeah, yeah.And you're showing them and
obviously you won, and besurprised to hear that you won.
You're like, no, I got this, youknow how? Because, because we
were talking to Jared earlier,he was he said that was more
intimidating than actuallygetting ready to do the speech
and stuff. Was the actualinterview process going in front
of all the administrators andeverybody else. How was that
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experience? I was very nervous.And in all reality, I know some
of my cohort well. I know mycohort. They're all such hard
workers. They all have inspiringstories. So honestly, I wasn't
100% sure I would get picked.
I was just like, you know, I'llthrow it in, and if I get it,
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that's great. And if someoneelse from my cohort gets it,
then I know that they thoroughlydeserve it. Cohorts a fancy word
for classmates, in case peopleare listening. We had to learn
that before. No, no, that's someawesome stuff. And, you know, it
was kind of funny, because whenwe finally, you know, I get to
Randy to speak with thestudents, and I was starting to
see some of the profile picskind of coming in. I'm like, Ah,
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she's, she looks familiar. Wait,she does. She's like, you're one
of our, like, our, we call,like, our models here at rcbc,
or whatever it is. I don'treason I know, because, again,
I, you know, I, I control thecontent on the website, right?
So I'm putting your picture likepretty much all over the
website, and we're seeing iteverywhere else. How was that
part of you know, thatexperience too? Oh, my God. Can
you see yourself all overcampus? Yes, I see myself on the
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benches, some of the posters allover in the buildings. And to be
honest, at first, I was a littleembarrassed. Get used to it,
but, yeah, I got used to it,yeah. So what made you choose,
or actually, where you were youfrom? Because I know we're
listening to your speech, youknow, you've come a long way to
get here, even to rcbc. Can wekind of go all the way back to
that point, you know, where youkind of started, how you kind of
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got here? Okay, well, I am fromIndia. I immigrated here in 2021
before that, I lived in avillage called Mayapur. It's
very it's not too big, it'ssmall, but we had, like,
everything we needed.
Yeah, and then when I came here,when I finished high school, I
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just didn't have a lot ofoptions. And I just knew that I
wouldn't have any options if Istayed where I was. And because
my father had lived in America,I was like, let me just give it
a shot. And it was a very, verylong process, and it was very
hard, and sometimes there wereobstacles every step of the way,
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and I sometimes I even felt likegiving up, but I knew that if I
actually get did give up, thenthat's it. I would just be stuck
there, and it was so so hard tobasically get back up after
falling so many times. But.
Yeah, that's why resilience isso important to me. And I think
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I really cultivated myresilience to get to where I am
today. When did that light bulbgo off? Like, what made you, you
know, the aha moment. It wasduring the pandemic when I
actually got to see a nurse atwork doing her thing. She was
doing all of these hard thingswith no resources, barely
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resources. The thing is,
when you're doing something sohard every single day, it can
really take a toll on you. Youcan get grouchy, irritated. You
can take it out on other people.But the nurse that I saw
working. She was alwayscomposed, always kind, always
compassionate, even thoughsometimes I could definitely see
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the stress getting to her, itwould get to anyone. But she
remained so kind throughout theentire thing, and that meant so
much to my family and the waythat she was able to help and,
you know, improve our lives.That made me feel like I would
love to do that for otherpeople. That was the catalyst
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that, like I realized that Iwanted to be a nurse and
similarly improved people'slives. That's awesome. I'm a
little biased towards nurses,because my wife is one, my
mother is one, around it, and Iknow the incredible amount of
work that kind of goes into it,the compassion that you have and
everything else, which I thinkyou're going to crush it, just
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from hearing your speeches andstuff. I think this is, you
know, again, I think thingshappen for a reason. I'm not
trying to say why COVIDhappened, for whatever reason
that was, or whatever that kindof like turned into, but it led
you to this point, and it wasdestined for you, right? And now
you are here to this point youget the ready to speak in front
of your peers here at the HealthSciences ceremony, which is
going to be, you know, kickingit all off, which is always the
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rowdiest crowd, by the way,because stems kind of like in
their own thing, right? And thenliberal arts, or, excuse me,
humanities, business and socialsciences as we can, you know, as
that's the new division name,they start to kind of get, you
know, they're a little funkybunch too, but health sciences,
you're all you're loud, they'reall having a party all time.
They'll come. You know,everything's getting all dressed
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up with their cap and gown andsuch screaming all over the
place. It's such good energy. SoI'm looking forward to that, and
it's going to be a great way tostart the whole commencement
here and look at, definitelylooking forward to that part.
But why are here, you know,before you get ready to go on to
the next step, and I'll ask youabout that in a second, though,
was there a professor that youhad that kind of, like, stood
out in the health sciences? Orit could have been any
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particular course. Could havebeen some, you know, Gen Ed,
course, that you know that youkind of connected with or have a
good experience with. For me, Ithink definitely Professor
Brendel, she was our, she is ourpediatrics instructor.
She is just this incrediblywonderful and kind woman, and
she's been in pediatrics herwhole life. And you know, in
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nursing, there's like, a littlebit of a stigma where it's like,
Oh, if you don't do med surgfirst, then you know, you're not
a good enough nurse. If youdon't do the hard stuff, you're
not a good enough nurse. Butwhat they don't realize is that
pediatrics is so, so hard. It'ssick children. Come on, when I
did my pediatrics rotation, itbroke my heart, but she has such
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incredible strength. And comingback to it again, she is able
to, like, keep her warmth, tokeep that comforting, nurturing
personality throughouteverything. And I really felt
that our my professors were allso tough, so strong, incredible,
but her gentleness is whatreally touches me.
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It's I love strong, independent,wonderful people, but when
someone can be all of that andso warm and gentle and kind at
the same time, that's whatreally, really gets me.
Yeah, she definitely stood outto me that way.
Throughout the program, shewould keep in touch. She would
ask how I'm doing. She alsoknows my boyfriend's mom, who is
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also a nurse, so she was alsoher teacher. Okay, so small
world, yeah, she but she doeshave that aura about her, and
it's, I'm love hearing thosestories too, that, you know,
it's those little things, like,even after she's kind of like,
you know, not done with you, butshe's, you know, you've kind of
moved on to the to your nextclass or curriculum or whatever,
and she's still checking in andsaying, you know, hey, because,
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you know, we had her on theshow, and I've known her from
working here at rcbc For awhile, just in the hallways and
such.
And cool thing is, I don't knowif I can reveal, but she's
helped us out in marketing with,we'll say, a certain mascot at
times. So all right, so she justhas this, this awesome energy.
But when I brought her on, and Ican get, I totally can vibe that
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gentleness, that you, that youspeak.
Of with her, and I'm glad yougot to connect and have that
experience here through at rcbc.So you know, you're, you're
going to be graduating here, andwhat's next? I think, I think I
heard off Mike or something likethat. Like, you're kind of like,
almost already set up for, for agig, right? Yeah, what is it?
What do you what are you goingto do? So in February, I'm going
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to be working with Virtua inmed. Surg, Reno, nice, yeah, I
told myself I wasn't gonna domed. Surg, it's like, it's kind
of known as, like, the really,how do I say it the hard one,
the
the one that makes you want tonot be a nurse. But when I went
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on the floor. I did myinterview, the people were so
kind and welcoming. And I metthe patients and
and I was like, Oh, I reallywant, do want to help people. I
maybe, you know, I can do thisMed, surg, isn't that bad. And,
yeah, just being able tophysically be there during my
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interview, getting a tour,talking to some of the patients,
that's what convinced me. And Iwas like, yeah, maybe I don't
have to stay here forever, butfor the meantime, I'm so happy
to be here and help and learn onthis floor. Yeah, that's, that's
some incredible stuff. And I'mglad you know you're starting to
have that path, and to hearyou're over at Virtua too, which
is an incredible healthcaresystem. I want to say it's, you
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know, some of the, some of thebest
career options here in theNortheast. So it's, it's great
seeing that, and seeing yourculmination, especially from
where you came from, for whereyou were headed, and now, you
know, you're here. And that'swhen I started to get the
goosebumps about it. And thiswas, this is what it's all about
here, being in higher ed as weget to see those and see and
hear those types of stories, andyou get to pass those types of
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messages on, because, you knowwhat, maybe tomorrow, or, you
know, again, as we're recordingthis, but when your speech goes
on, there might be one person inthat actual, that auditorium
that you connect with, right?You can, you're speaking to
like, 100 people, right? Butit's just that one person, just
kind of, like, for you, it wasduring COVID, you had, like,
that one nurse that kind of,like, had that aha moment for
you. Now it's your turn to kindof pay it forward, setting that
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up, you know, can you give us alittle tease? Or maybe, if
you're talking to that oneperson that might be connected
to, what would you, you know,try to say to that person who's
kind of like, where you werebefore and how to get out of it?
Or maybe some words ofinspiration for your that
classmate or fellow classmates.If someone is in that dark place
where you feel like this isimpossible, I can't do this. I
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want you to know that it isabsolutely possible if I can
come here and become a nurse, doall these wonderful things, you
know, be the recipe recipientsof the President's Award, which
I thought was impossible at onepoint. At one point I thought,
you know, it's, it's better ifyou know, I just maybe just
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settle with my lot in life, andthis is it. That's all I'll ever
I'll ever be. I'm not going tobe anything more. And it is, I
understand. It's just so so sohard to get out of that
mentality.
But you must know that you areso so capable and strong,
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and that you do have theresilience to get back up to get
up and try again and startfresh. Even though it's going to
be long, it's going to be reallyhard, but if you can just get
up, take it one step at a time,you know, baby steps towards the
goal, like little by little,make progress. I absolutely know
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that you can do it, because Idid it.
And if I can do it, anyone cando it. And as I painted picture
here in the little back roomhere of the auditorium of Voda
itself, is about Paki wasclosing her eyes, and that was a
pure message from within that'sinspirational to me. I hope it's
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inspirational to somebody else,because, again, you're a working
example. I'm kind of getting,like, worked up a little bit,
you know what I mean, becauseyou're a living example of it,
but just the pure emotion of it.And you're not just kind of
throwing words, you know, outthere, but nor would it be as we
expect from President awardwinners. But not only can you be
that, you can be a nice, youknow, model on campus and get
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your face put all over on thebenches and everything else too,
but, but no, that was purelysincere. And I'm very proud of
you, and I hope your parents areproud of you and stuff too. And
are they going to be here forthe ceremony? Yes, they will be
here. My the first few words ofmy speech is in Bengali, just so
that they know how important alltheir efforts and all their hard
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work that they put into me is,yeah, I'm just so grateful for,
like, my parents never evenfinished high school, so and for
them to just pick up and leaveand come to completely.
Unfamiliar country and to workso hard to get me here. I'm just
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so happy that they can see me onthis stage. And how would you
say that in Bengali? Bengali,yeah, Baba, I'm an ATO ATO palo,
like JJ Tom Rama Kay Amon,Judge, dekti Bucha, and we'll
trust your word for that.
We are gonna have, we are gonnahave the full speech too.
Because I you know, when you'regetting it into the when you're
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on stage and you're goingthrough it's a lot more in
length and stuff, and it'll bearchived for generations to come
and check it out. And you know,so if people do miss it live, it
will be on our YouTube channel,and eventually we'll archive it
on our commencement page andeverything else. But once again,
congratulations for being thePresident's Award winner,
getting ready to speak and kickthings off for the second annual
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so not to put the pressure onyou, because everything's going
to go through you first, right,but for the Winter Commencement
here at rcbc, for 2024 as wehead into 2025 but representing
the Health Sciences class andgoing to go rock out in Virtua
and do some some great things inthe healthcare world. Varga,
congrats. Thank you so much.Thanks for coming on the show.
And there goes Varga, who wasoff to get some rest as she was
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batting a little bit of a headcold, which is, you know, pretty
common this time of year, andwanted to ensure that she'd be
good to go for kicking off thesecond annual Winter
Commencement at rcbc, which iswhere I'm about to take you.
Right now we're going to hearthe opening message from our CBC
president, Dr Michael cosi,followed by a little clip of
Varga speech to our HealthScience peers. So let's Check it
out now.
(16:42):
Oh,
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meetings,
intervenes
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it's
An honor
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to And Today,
Clients,
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you're.
Before we conclude, I want toapply to prepare
the Next Generation.
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Again, this is going to beallowed for
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and just like that, the secondannual Winter Commencement for
Health Sciences would come to aclose. We then go on to
celebrate the humanities,Business, Social Sciences stem
which again, is science,technology, engineering and
mathematics and adult basiceducation with their respective
ceremonies throughout the dayhere on campus at the Voda
auditorium, which you could alsocatch the entire live streams of
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each event on our CBC YouTubechannel. So if you wanted to
check out the entire Presidentaward winner speeches, the
graduates receiving theirdiplomas and the likes, you can
head on over to our YouTubechannel and stream away.
Meanwhile, after the events tookplace, all of the graduates,
faculty, friends and familywould head over to the Student
Success Center for snacks,selfies and some other
celebratory times, thanks to thercbc Foundation for providing
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all of that stuff. And whileover there, I sent the program
pod intern Emmanuel Amar tocatch up with some of the
graduates and ask about theirexperience attending rcbc.
Here's what went down. I'm withthe rcbc Podcast. I'm just
talking to some of the graduatesnow that you did the graduation
thing. So what's your name? Whatwas your major, and what future
plans do you have now? I'm FauciIbrahim, and my major was
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criminal justice, and my futureplan is hopefully to become a
lawyer. What kind of lawyer doyou want to be? Oh, I don't
know. I'm thinking maybeimmigration or real estate or
what my mom wants me to do. No,I'm kidding.
Do you have any plans totransfer somewhere? Or are you
doing three plus one? What's,what's Yeah, I'm doing three
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plus one here, and thenhopefully I could start applying
to law schools after my senioryear. Do you have any law firms
you want to work for? Any anyspecial ones to you? No, but I
am thinking of some schools Iwant to go to so far so UPenn,
maybe. Yeah. Do you have anywords of advice to your fellow
graduates? Don't let yourselfthink that you can't do it,
because if other humans can doit, so why can't you? And that's
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the mindset I put to myself.That's a good mindset. And then
the last question, a really, areally hard, heavy hitting
question, if you were walkingWhat song would you have want to
play while you were getting upthere? Oh my gosh, I'm thinking
Hall of Fames. Yeah. Do youremember that one? That's a good
that's a good song. It's a goodsong. Congrats. Thank you for
talking to me. You did thething, and good luck in your
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future endeavors. Okay, so couldyou tell me your name, your
major, and any future plans youhave? So my name is generic. I
majored in cybersecurity. Myplans going forward actually is
to take the CPA exam.
I was working to get my 150credit hours. So yeah, so my
field in accounting and howcybersecurity ties into it over
your time here at rcbc. Do youhave any, like, favorable
(23:24):
memories or moments? Myprofessor actually was really
helpful throughout all this.Professor Warner, fantastic, and
he's the one who really helpedme through this field of study.
Cybersecurity is complicatedwith it, but he broke it down.
He made it really enjoyable. Andthat's my greatest takeaway from
this school. More so on, likethe school aspect, is there
something you think you couldhave, like, taken more advantage
of over your time here? Yeah,this area here, I haven't spent
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much time in this building.There's a lot of activities to
relax and such. I've always beenin the tech building and in and
out of there only, yeah, I'm thesame way. Just this year, I've
started to stay in the SSC moreoften and connect with people.
So I'm in the same mode as youdo. You have any like words of
wisdom you want to give to yourfellow graduates, maybe people
(24:07):
that are in cybersecurity too?Yeah, everyone's willing to
help. And if you have anyquestions, you're hung up. At
any time, students and facultyalike are ready to help you. At
any point, I've been in thatposition where I felt stuck, and
I don't know if I could keepgoing, but there was always a
support network here, and that'swhat really helped me get
through it all, especially ouradvising team upstairs are
fantastic. Thank you so much foryour time. Congrats on
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graduating again, and good luckin your future endeavors. Can
you mind telling your name forme one more time, and then what
was your major? My name isKaisha Wittenberg, and my major
is education. So why theinterest in education? I really
like kids, and I want to be apre K teacher. What is one thing
you think you you could havetaken more advantage of here at
rcbc? One thing I could havetaken more advantage of is the
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tutoring it helped me a lotduring my very first semester,
my freshman year, and I didn'ttake advantage of it this
semester, and I should have.Thank you for speaking with me
today. Congratulations and goodluck in your future. Nervous.
Hi. I'm.
Manuel, this is the rcbcPodcast. I'm just gonna ask you
some questions about like, yourname, your major future plans
that you have. Hi, my name isZara Hill. My major is computer
(25:09):
science, and my future plans areto become a software engineer.
Is there any company you want towork for? Specifically? So right
out of college, I want to workfor either Lockheed or Willis
towers, Watson, but my main goalis to have my own company so
that I can bring people closerto God through the internet.
Very rarely do we find peopleblending the faith and and signs
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like the technology aspect.That's good. We need more of
that now. Same question I askedVictoria, if you were walking up
to the stage to grab yourdiploma, what song is playing?
Praise by elevation, worship.It's a great Listen. Listen to
it. Hi, I'm with the oh,
okay, first, first, the hug. Hi,ICBC Podcast. I'm Emmanuel.
We're just asking the graduatesthings that they graduated
(25:53):
about. First thing is your name,your major, what are your future
plans? So my name is Victoria.I'm graduated with a associates
in psychology, and my futureplans are to get a doctorate in
psychology as ID, and I'm reallyexcited for that. I think I
have, like, about six years leftuntil I'm finished school. Yay.
What is one main takeaway you'vegotten from rcbc? I guess I'm
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grateful that I had goodprofessors and I was able to
learn in everything that I'mpassionate about and just really
enjoy school and get adjusted tothe college life and meet new
friends. What's something youwould say to your cohort of
graduates? Never give up, keepgoing and always follow your
dreams. Thank you. Hi. I'm withthe rcbc podcast. We're just
(26:36):
asking people about, well, theirgraduation stuff. So would you
mind telling me your name, yourmajor, any future plans you
have. So my name is CassandraGordon, and I am in inclusive
education, and I'm in the threeplus one program my last year is
going to be at Rowan Universityto get my bachelor's. What is
one thing you're taking awayfrom rcbc Now that you're about
to leave? Definitely everythingthey help put in my toolbox. So
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Assistant students, doinghomework, the procrastination
and everything like that.
What is one thing you want tosay to your fellow graduates? We
made it congratulations, and thehard work is finally put to
rest. Just keep going withwhatever plans you have in the
future, and don't ever give up.Now for a really, really hard
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question, when you're going upto get your diploma, what song
would be playing every day I'mhustling. I forgot who was by
but I do like that song. It getsme motivated. Yeah, that's a
good answer. Thank you for yourtime. Thank you for talking to
me. Congrats on graduating, andgood luck with your future
plans. Every day I'm hustling,hustling, which, if I want to
bust out my old commercialradio, DJ roots, that's Party
(27:39):
Rock Anthem by LMFAO, releasedin 2011 I'm Casey Kasem, but
actually I'm not. I'm Jay Varga,and indeed, a solid answer there
for a walk up song. But thanksto Emmanuel for doing a great
job catching up with some rcbcstudents and letting us hear
some inside perspective on theirexperiences attending rcbc,
which of course, eventually ledthem to their success and
(27:59):
diplomas. There is they walkedacross the stage for the second
annual rcbc Winter Commencement,which is officially in the
books. So thanks for listeningto our coverage here of this
special event. And if you'd liketo learn more about the programs
that rcbc has to offer, you cancheck out rcbc.edu and of
course, you can keep listeningto this awesome program called
the program pod, where I takeyou throughout some deep dives
(28:21):
within the particular major,within a particular program, to
kind of give you a nice insideperspective of what the programs
are all about by talking to thestudents, faculty and employer,
and I'll do that throughout theyear. So be sure to subscribe to
the program pod, wherever youget your podcast, tell your
friends, tell your family allthat good stuff. I appreciate
the support. So this is JayVarga again, saying thanks for
listening and also wishing younothing but the best in 2025 now
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go out there and crush it.
Music.
(00:01):
Welcome to the program. Pod, anational award winning program
on the rcbc Podcast Network,which takes a deep dive into the
programs offered at rcbc throughdifferent perspectives of
students, faculty and employers,with a little bit of a twist as
we are in part two here of theprogram. Pods, second annual
Winter Commencement special herefor rcbc as we get ready to head
(00:23):
into 2025 man. Now, quickly thissemester went by, but yeah,
we're getting ready to honor thestudents that are ready to
graduate now, not having to waittill May. Hi, I'm Jay Varga, by
the way, the host, the producer,the one that just gets to sit
back and listen to thesestudents do their speeches and
stuff, but also bring eachindividual President's Award
winner from all three ceremoniesin here, and get to know them a
little bit more on a personalbasis. And now we have the one
(00:46):
who's gonna be kicking thingsoff altogether for the Health
Sciences. We have Bagya Barman,yes, yes. Okay, I've been
trying, trying pretty good, likemy my phonetics here, but you
know, well, first of all,congratulations on being the
President's Award winner andgetting ready to speak in front
of the Health Sciences class.Thank you so much. Yeah. Are you
(01:07):
excited? Are you ready? Very,very excited. And I'm ready to
go. Yeah, it's like you got acold practice runs in and
getting ready to do it live,which we will be, of course,
broadcasting. And by the timethat this podcast is aired. The
Commencement has alreadyhappened, and we'll go back and
listen to some of your podcasts.If people want to hear it, it's
broadcasting live in front of aworldwide audience. So we're
(01:30):
getting Y'all ready for it, butit's almost show time, so you're
gonna be good to go. Right,right. Yeah, yeah. Have you
spoke in front of a crowd thissize before? Not this size? No,
no, but I have done a lot ofpublic speaking in high school.
Okay, so, yeah, so you a littlebit good there. So, you know, I
was like to kind of get into thepsyche of everything and get to
(01:50):
know why, you know, you wantedto be a president's award
winner, applicant in the firstplace. I wanted to be an
applicant mostly because Iwanted to give my parents
something that they could justbe so proud of. I know that
they're, they are proud of me,but I just wanted to give them
(02:10):
something tangible, like proofthat all your hard work has
actually paid off. Yeah, yeah.And you're showing them and
obviously you won, and besurprised to hear that you won.
You're like, no, I got this, youknow how? Because, because we
were talking to Jared earlier,he was he said that was more
intimidating than actuallygetting ready to do the speech
and stuff. Was the actualinterview process going in front
of all the administrators andeverybody else. How was that
(02:32):
experience? I was very nervous.And in all reality, I know some
of my cohort well. I know mycohort. They're all such hard
workers. They all have inspiringstories. So honestly, I wasn't
100% sure I would get picked.
I was just like, you know, I'llthrow it in, and if I get it,
(02:53):
that's great. And if someoneelse from my cohort gets it,
then I know that they thoroughlydeserve it. Cohorts a fancy word
for classmates, in case peopleare listening. We had to learn
that before. No, no, that's someawesome stuff. And, you know, it
was kind of funny, because whenwe finally, you know, I get to
Randy to speak with thestudents, and I was starting to
see some of the profile picskind of coming in. I'm like, Ah,
(03:13):
she's, she looks familiar. Wait,she does. She's like, you're one
of our, like, our, we call,like, our models here at rcbc,
or whatever it is. I don'treason I know, because, again,
I, you know, I, I control thecontent on the website, right?
So I'm putting your picture likepretty much all over the
website, and we're seeing iteverywhere else. How was that
part of you know, thatexperience too? Oh, my God. Can
you see yourself all overcampus? Yes, I see myself on the
(03:36):
benches, some of the posters allover in the buildings. And to be
honest, at first, I was a littleembarrassed. Get used to it,
but, yeah, I got used to it,yeah. So what made you choose,
or actually, where you were youfrom? Because I know we're
listening to your speech, youknow, you've come a long way to
get here, even to rcbc. Can wekind of go all the way back to
that point, you know, where youkind of started, how you kind of
(03:57):
got here? Okay, well, I am fromIndia. I immigrated here in 2021
before that, I lived in avillage called Mayapur. It's
very it's not too big, it'ssmall, but we had, like,
everything we needed.
Yeah, and then when I came here,when I finished high school, I
(04:19):
just didn't have a lot ofoptions. And I just knew that I
wouldn't have any options if Istayed where I was. And because
my father had lived in America,I was like, let me just give it
a shot. And it was a very, verylong process, and it was very
hard, and sometimes there wereobstacles every step of the way,
(04:42):
and I sometimes I even felt likegiving up, but I knew that if I
actually get did give up, thenthat's it. I would just be stuck
there, and it was so so hard tobasically get back up after
falling so many times. But.
Yeah, that's why resilience isso important to me. And I think
(05:04):
I really cultivated myresilience to get to where I am
today. When did that light bulbgo off? Like, what made you, you
know, the aha moment. It wasduring the pandemic when I
actually got to see a nurse atwork doing her thing. She was
doing all of these hard thingswith no resources, barely
(05:25):
resources. The thing is,
when you're doing something sohard every single day, it can
really take a toll on you. Youcan get grouchy, irritated. You
can take it out on other people.But the nurse that I saw
working. She was alwayscomposed, always kind, always
compassionate, even thoughsometimes I could definitely see
(05:48):
the stress getting to her, itwould get to anyone. But she
remained so kind throughout theentire thing, and that meant so
much to my family and the waythat she was able to help and,
you know, improve our lives.That made me feel like I would
love to do that for otherpeople. That was the catalyst
(06:12):
that, like I realized that Iwanted to be a nurse and
similarly improved people'slives. That's awesome. I'm a
little biased towards nurses,because my wife is one, my
mother is one, around it, and Iknow the incredible amount of
work that kind of goes into it,the compassion that you have and
everything else, which I thinkyou're going to crush it, just
(06:34):
from hearing your speeches andstuff. I think this is, you
know, again, I think thingshappen for a reason. I'm not
trying to say why COVIDhappened, for whatever reason
that was, or whatever that kindof like turned into, but it led
you to this point, and it wasdestined for you, right? And now
you are here to this point youget the ready to speak in front
of your peers here at the HealthSciences ceremony, which is
going to be, you know, kickingit all off, which is always the
(06:55):
rowdiest crowd, by the way,because stems kind of like in
their own thing, right? And thenliberal arts, or, excuse me,
humanities, business and socialsciences as we can, you know, as
that's the new division name,they start to kind of get, you
know, they're a little funkybunch too, but health sciences,
you're all you're loud, they'reall having a party all time.
They'll come. You know,everything's getting all dressed
(07:16):
up with their cap and gown andsuch screaming all over the
place. It's such good energy. SoI'm looking forward to that, and
it's going to be a great way tostart the whole commencement
here and look at, definitelylooking forward to that part.
But why are here, you know,before you get ready to go on to
the next step, and I'll ask youabout that in a second, though,
was there a professor that youhad that kind of, like, stood
out in the health sciences? Orit could have been any
(07:38):
particular course. Could havebeen some, you know, Gen Ed,
course, that you know that youkind of connected with or have a
good experience with. For me, Ithink definitely Professor
Brendel, she was our, she is ourpediatrics instructor.
She is just this incrediblywonderful and kind woman, and
she's been in pediatrics herwhole life. And you know, in
(08:02):
nursing, there's like, a littlebit of a stigma where it's like,
Oh, if you don't do med surgfirst, then you know, you're not
a good enough nurse. If youdon't do the hard stuff, you're
not a good enough nurse. Butwhat they don't realize is that
pediatrics is so, so hard. It'ssick children. Come on, when I
did my pediatrics rotation, itbroke my heart, but she has such
(08:24):
incredible strength. And comingback to it again, she is able
to, like, keep her warmth, tokeep that comforting, nurturing
personality throughouteverything. And I really felt
that our my professors were allso tough, so strong, incredible,
but her gentleness is whatreally touches me.
(08:47):
It's I love strong, independent,wonderful people, but when
someone can be all of that andso warm and gentle and kind at
the same time, that's whatreally, really gets me.
Yeah, she definitely stood outto me that way.
Throughout the program, shewould keep in touch. She would
ask how I'm doing. She alsoknows my boyfriend's mom, who is
(09:13):
also a nurse, so she was alsoher teacher. Okay, so small
world, yeah, she but she doeshave that aura about her, and
it's, I'm love hearing thosestories too, that, you know,
it's those little things, like,even after she's kind of like,
you know, not done with you, butshe's, you know, you've kind of
moved on to the to your nextclass or curriculum or whatever,
and she's still checking in andsaying, you know, hey, because,
(09:35):
you know, we had her on theshow, and I've known her from
working here at rcbc For awhile, just in the hallways and
such.
And cool thing is, I don't knowif I can reveal, but she's
helped us out in marketing with,we'll say, a certain mascot at
times. So all right, so she justhas this, this awesome energy.
But when I brought her on, and Ican get, I totally can vibe that
(09:58):
gentleness, that you, that youspeak.
Of with her, and I'm glad yougot to connect and have that
experience here through at rcbc.So you know, you're, you're
going to be graduating here, andwhat's next? I think, I think I
heard off Mike or something likethat. Like, you're kind of like,
almost already set up for, for agig, right? Yeah, what is it?
What do you what are you goingto do? So in February, I'm going
(10:19):
to be working with Virtua inmed. Surg, Reno, nice, yeah, I
told myself I wasn't gonna domed. Surg, it's like, it's kind
of known as, like, the really,how do I say it the hard one,
the
the one that makes you want tonot be a nurse. But when I went
(10:40):
on the floor. I did myinterview, the people were so
kind and welcoming. And I metthe patients and
and I was like, Oh, I reallywant, do want to help people. I
maybe, you know, I can do thisMed, surg, isn't that bad. And,
yeah, just being able tophysically be there during my
(11:00):
interview, getting a tour,talking to some of the patients,
that's what convinced me. And Iwas like, yeah, maybe I don't
have to stay here forever, butfor the meantime, I'm so happy
to be here and help and learn onthis floor. Yeah, that's, that's
some incredible stuff. And I'mglad you know you're starting to
have that path, and to hearyou're over at Virtua too, which
is an incredible healthcaresystem. I want to say it's, you
(11:22):
know, some of the, some of thebest
career options here in theNortheast. So it's, it's great
seeing that, and seeing yourculmination, especially from
where you came from, for whereyou were headed, and now, you
know, you're here. And that'swhen I started to get the
goosebumps about it. And thiswas, this is what it's all about
here, being in higher ed as weget to see those and see and
hear those types of stories, andyou get to pass those types of
(11:45):
messages on, because, you knowwhat, maybe tomorrow, or, you
know, again, as we're recordingthis, but when your speech goes
on, there might be one person inthat actual, that auditorium
that you connect with, right?You can, you're speaking to
like, 100 people, right? Butit's just that one person, just
kind of, like, for you, it wasduring COVID, you had, like,
that one nurse that kind of,like, had that aha moment for
you. Now it's your turn to kindof pay it forward, setting that
(12:06):
up, you know, can you give us alittle tease? Or maybe, if
you're talking to that oneperson that might be connected
to, what would you, you know,try to say to that person who's
kind of like, where you werebefore and how to get out of it?
Or maybe some words ofinspiration for your that
classmate or fellow classmates.If someone is in that dark place
where you feel like this isimpossible, I can't do this. I
(12:29):
want you to know that it isabsolutely possible if I can
come here and become a nurse, doall these wonderful things, you
know, be the recipe recipientsof the President's Award, which
I thought was impossible at onepoint. At one point I thought,
you know, it's, it's better ifyou know, I just maybe just
(12:52):
settle with my lot in life, andthis is it. That's all I'll ever
I'll ever be. I'm not going tobe anything more. And it is, I
understand. It's just so so sohard to get out of that
mentality.
But you must know that you areso so capable and strong,
(13:16):
and that you do have theresilience to get back up to get
up and try again and startfresh. Even though it's going to
be long, it's going to be reallyhard, but if you can just get
up, take it one step at a time,you know, baby steps towards the
goal, like little by little,make progress. I absolutely know
(13:41):
that you can do it, because Idid it.
And if I can do it, anyone cando it. And as I painted picture
here in the little back roomhere of the auditorium of Voda
itself, is about Paki wasclosing her eyes, and that was a
pure message from within that'sinspirational to me. I hope it's
(14:01):
inspirational to somebody else,because, again, you're a working
example. I'm kind of getting,like, worked up a little bit,
you know what I mean, becauseyou're a living example of it,
but just the pure emotion of it.And you're not just kind of
throwing words, you know, outthere, but nor would it be as we
expect from President awardwinners. But not only can you be
that, you can be a nice, youknow, model on campus and get
(14:23):
your face put all over on thebenches and everything else too,
but, but no, that was purelysincere. And I'm very proud of
you, and I hope your parents areproud of you and stuff too. And
are they going to be here forthe ceremony? Yes, they will be
here. My the first few words ofmy speech is in Bengali, just so
that they know how important alltheir efforts and all their hard
(14:45):
work that they put into me is,yeah, I'm just so grateful for,
like, my parents never evenfinished high school, so and for
them to just pick up and leaveand come to completely.
Unfamiliar country and to workso hard to get me here. I'm just
(15:06):
so happy that they can see me onthis stage. And how would you
say that in Bengali? Bengali,yeah, Baba, I'm an ATO ATO palo,
like JJ Tom Rama Kay Amon,Judge, dekti Bucha, and we'll
trust your word for that.
We are gonna have, we are gonnahave the full speech too.
Because I you know, when you'regetting it into the when you're
(15:29):
on stage and you're goingthrough it's a lot more in
length and stuff, and it'll bearchived for generations to come
and check it out. And you know,so if people do miss it live, it
will be on our YouTube channel,and eventually we'll archive it
on our commencement page andeverything else. But once again,
congratulations for being thePresident's Award winner,
getting ready to speak and kickthings off for the second annual
(15:49):
so not to put the pressure onyou, because everything's going
to go through you first, right,but for the Winter Commencement
here at rcbc, for 2024 as wehead into 2025 but representing
the Health Sciences class andgoing to go rock out in Virtua
and do some some great things inthe healthcare world. Varga,
congrats. Thank you so much.Thanks for coming on the show.
And there goes Varga, who wasoff to get some rest as she was
(16:11):
batting a little bit of a headcold, which is, you know, pretty
common this time of year, andwanted to ensure that she'd be
good to go for kicking off thesecond annual Winter
Commencement at rcbc, which iswhere I'm about to take you.
Right now we're going to hearthe opening message from our CBC
president, Dr Michael cosi,followed by a little clip of
Varga speech to our HealthScience peers. So let's Check it
out now.
(16:42):
Oh,
(17:12):
meetings,
intervenes
(18:00):
it's
An honor
(18:22):
to And Today,
Clients,
(19:59):
you're.
Before we conclude, I want toapply to prepare
the Next Generation.
(20:30):
Again, this is going to beallowed for
(20:51):
and just like that, the secondannual Winter Commencement for
Health Sciences would come to aclose. We then go on to
celebrate the humanities,Business, Social Sciences stem
which again, is science,technology, engineering and
mathematics and adult basiceducation with their respective
ceremonies throughout the dayhere on campus at the Voda
auditorium, which you could alsocatch the entire live streams of
(21:12):
each event on our CBC YouTubechannel. So if you wanted to
check out the entire Presidentaward winner speeches, the
graduates receiving theirdiplomas and the likes, you can
head on over to our YouTubechannel and stream away.
Meanwhile, after the events tookplace, all of the graduates,
faculty, friends and familywould head over to the Student
Success Center for snacks,selfies and some other
celebratory times, thanks to thercbc Foundation for providing
(21:35):
all of that stuff. And whileover there, I sent the program
pod intern Emmanuel Amar tocatch up with some of the
graduates and ask about theirexperience attending rcbc.
Here's what went down. I'm withthe rcbc Podcast. I'm just
talking to some of the graduatesnow that you did the graduation
thing. So what's your name? Whatwas your major, and what future
plans do you have now? I'm FauciIbrahim, and my major was
(21:57):
criminal justice, and my futureplan is hopefully to become a
lawyer. What kind of lawyer doyou want to be? Oh, I don't
know. I'm thinking maybeimmigration or real estate or
what my mom wants me to do. No,I'm kidding.
Do you have any plans totransfer somewhere? Or are you
doing three plus one? What's,what's Yeah, I'm doing three
(22:17):
plus one here, and thenhopefully I could start applying
to law schools after my senioryear. Do you have any law firms
you want to work for? Any anyspecial ones to you? No, but I
am thinking of some schools Iwant to go to so far so UPenn,
maybe. Yeah. Do you have anywords of advice to your fellow
graduates? Don't let yourselfthink that you can't do it,
because if other humans can doit, so why can't you? And that's
(22:40):
the mindset I put to myself.That's a good mindset. And then
the last question, a really, areally hard, heavy hitting
question, if you were walkingWhat song would you have want to
play while you were getting upthere? Oh my gosh, I'm thinking
Hall of Fames. Yeah. Do youremember that one? That's a good
that's a good song. It's a goodsong. Congrats. Thank you for
talking to me. You did thething, and good luck in your
(23:02):
future endeavors. Okay, so couldyou tell me your name, your
major, and any future plans youhave? So my name is generic. I
majored in cybersecurity. Myplans going forward actually is
to take the CPA exam.
I was working to get my 150credit hours. So yeah, so my
field in accounting and howcybersecurity ties into it over
your time here at rcbc. Do youhave any, like, favorable
(23:24):
memories or moments? Myprofessor actually was really
helpful throughout all this.Professor Warner, fantastic, and
he's the one who really helpedme through this field of study.
Cybersecurity is complicatedwith it, but he broke it down.
He made it really enjoyable. Andthat's my greatest takeaway from
this school. More so on, likethe school aspect, is there
something you think you couldhave, like, taken more advantage
of over your time here? Yeah,this area here, I haven't spent
(23:46):
much time in this building.There's a lot of activities to
relax and such. I've always beenin the tech building and in and
out of there only, yeah, I'm thesame way. Just this year, I've
started to stay in the SSC moreoften and connect with people.
So I'm in the same mode as youdo. You have any like words of
wisdom you want to give to yourfellow graduates, maybe people
(24:07):
that are in cybersecurity too?Yeah, everyone's willing to
help. And if you have anyquestions, you're hung up. At
any time, students and facultyalike are ready to help you. At
any point, I've been in thatposition where I felt stuck, and
I don't know if I could keepgoing, but there was always a
support network here, and that'swhat really helped me get
through it all, especially ouradvising team upstairs are
fantastic. Thank you so much foryour time. Congrats on
(24:28):
graduating again, and good luckin your future endeavors. Can
you mind telling your name forme one more time, and then what
was your major? My name isKaisha Wittenberg, and my major
is education. So why theinterest in education? I really
like kids, and I want to be apre K teacher. What is one thing
you think you you could havetaken more advantage of here at
rcbc? One thing I could havetaken more advantage of is the
(24:48):
tutoring it helped me a lotduring my very first semester,
my freshman year, and I didn'ttake advantage of it this
semester, and I should have.Thank you for speaking with me
today. Congratulations and goodluck in your future. Nervous.
Hi. I'm.
Manuel, this is the rcbcPodcast. I'm just gonna ask you
some questions about like, yourname, your major future plans
that you have. Hi, my name isZara Hill. My major is computer
(25:09):
science, and my future plans areto become a software engineer.
Is there any company you want towork for? Specifically? So right
out of college, I want to workfor either Lockheed or Willis
towers, Watson, but my main goalis to have my own company so
that I can bring people closerto God through the internet.
Very rarely do we find peopleblending the faith and and signs
(25:30):
like the technology aspect.That's good. We need more of
that now. Same question I askedVictoria, if you were walking up
to the stage to grab yourdiploma, what song is playing?
Praise by elevation, worship.It's a great Listen. Listen to
it. Hi, I'm with the oh,
okay, first, first, the hug. Hi,ICBC Podcast. I'm Emmanuel.
We're just asking the graduatesthings that they graduated
(25:53):
about. First thing is your name,your major, what are your future
plans? So my name is Victoria.I'm graduated with a associates
in psychology, and my futureplans are to get a doctorate in
psychology as ID, and I'm reallyexcited for that. I think I
have, like, about six years leftuntil I'm finished school. Yay.
What is one main takeaway you'vegotten from rcbc? I guess I'm
(26:15):
grateful that I had goodprofessors and I was able to
learn in everything that I'mpassionate about and just really
enjoy school and get adjusted tothe college life and meet new
friends. What's something youwould say to your cohort of
graduates? Never give up, keepgoing and always follow your
dreams. Thank you. Hi. I'm withthe rcbc podcast. We're just
(26:36):
asking people about, well, theirgraduation stuff. So would you
mind telling me your name, yourmajor, any future plans you
have. So my name is CassandraGordon, and I am in inclusive
education, and I'm in the threeplus one program my last year is
going to be at Rowan Universityto get my bachelor's. What is
one thing you're taking awayfrom rcbc Now that you're about
to leave? Definitely everythingthey help put in my toolbox. So
(26:57):
Assistant students, doinghomework, the procrastination
and everything like that.
What is one thing you want tosay to your fellow graduates? We
made it congratulations, and thehard work is finally put to
rest. Just keep going withwhatever plans you have in the
future, and don't ever give up.Now for a really, really hard
(27:17):
question, when you're going upto get your diploma, what song
would be playing every day I'mhustling. I forgot who was by
but I do like that song. It getsme motivated. Yeah, that's a
good answer. Thank you for yourtime. Thank you for talking to
me. Congrats on graduating, andgood luck with your future
plans. Every day I'm hustling,hustling, which, if I want to
bust out my old commercialradio, DJ roots, that's Party
(27:39):
Rock Anthem by LMFAO, releasedin 2011 I'm Casey Kasem, but
actually I'm not. I'm Jay Varga,and indeed, a solid answer there
for a walk up song. But thanksto Emmanuel for doing a great
job catching up with some rcbcstudents and letting us hear
some inside perspective on theirexperiences attending rcbc,
which of course, eventually ledthem to their success and
(27:59):
diplomas. There is they walkedacross the stage for the second
annual rcbc Winter Commencement,which is officially in the
books. So thanks for listeningto our coverage here of this
special event. And if you'd liketo learn more about the programs
that rcbc has to offer, you cancheck out rcbc.edu and of
course, you can keep listeningto this awesome program called
the program pod, where I takeyou throughout some deep dives
(28:21):
within the particular major,within a particular program, to
kind of give you a nice insideperspective of what the programs
are all about by talking to thestudents, faculty and employer,
and I'll do that throughout theyear. So be sure to subscribe to
the program pod, wherever youget your podcast, tell your
friends, tell your family allthat good stuff. I appreciate
the support. So this is JayVarga again, saying thanks for
listening and also wishing younothing but the best in 2025 now
(28:44):
go out there and crush it.
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