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WILKES-BARRE — A gymnasium in downtown Wilkes-Barre was packed with family and friends Saturday afternoon as 382 undergraduates received bachelor’s degrees as the class of 2016.
The students, led by the Wyoming Valley Pipe & Drum Band, processed the wrong way down the one-way South Franklin Street as they walked from University Center on Main to the Arnaud C. Marts Center.
It was a day to celebrate personal achievements and celebrate victories as “Wilkes administrators wore the most ridiculous colors and outfits they can find,” according to graduate Anthony Fanucci. Fanucci will continue his studies at Wilkes, graduating with a degree in pharmacy in 2018.
Fanucci, student government president, greeted his classmates where he told the graduates that there is “only one chance, one life to pursue your dreams.” He then urged his classmates to “take advantage of every single moment.”
During the ceremony, the Mabel Scott Wandell and the Sterling Leroy Wandell awards were presented to two men and one woman. The award is given to the highest grade-point average in the graduation class.
Sydney Schafer, an early childhood and elementary education, was the female awarded the Wandell Award. Schafer is the 56th student in Wilkes’ history to earn a perfect 4.0. Kelly Kempa and James Steigerwalt — Wilkes pharmacy students — were acknowledged for their 4.0 averages and will receive their awards in 2018, when they receive their pharmacy degrees. They are the 57th and 58th students to receive cumulative 4.0 in their first four years.
The two men who received the Wandell award were Donichatch Kiangsiri, an accounting major, and Zachary Sullivan, an environmental engineering major. They had a tied GPA of 3.98.
University President Patrick Leahy called the 2016 graduating class his “classmates,” during his speech. Leahy came to the college in 2012, the same year the majority of the class entered as well.
“Was the tassel worth the hassle?” he asked.
For Amanda Fulk, a communications studies graduate, her mortarboard said it all: The tassel was worth the hassle.
During a separate ceremony Saturday morning, Wilkes University conferred 333 master’s and doctoral degrees at the same gymnasium. In the morning ceremony, Wilkes recognized the oldest graduate in its history, 92-year-old Anna Arnett of Chandler, Arizonia. Arnett will receive her creative writing Master’s degree at a special ceremony at Wilkes’ Arizona campus on June 4.
“Wilkes was just an appetizer,” Fanucci, who received the Alumni Leadership Award, said about their time at the college. “Stay hungry.”
