Events
Graduation on the Water
Spring Commencement
M AY 19 — Gray skies turned to a bright, sunny day at Brooklyn Bridge Park for the 3,000 people
celebrating St. Francis College’s Spring Commencement, the first graduation held on a pier with the
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan skyline providing a stunning backdrop.
M
ore than 30 0 students walked across the
stage to receive diplomas after hearing from
Valedictorian Tvrtko Vrdoljak ’15, Keynote
Speaker John F. Tully ’67, J.D. and honorary degree
recipient former Assemblywoman Joan Millman.
Vrdoljak is the third of three brothers to come to
St. Francis College from Croatia and the second
valedictorian from his family. Vrdoljak carried a
perfect 4.0 GPA as an economics major with minors
in political science and philosophy.
He told his classmates that education at St. Francis
extends far beyond the classroom. “The unmatched
diversity of people, interests, cultures, and opinions
that New York has exposed us to has imbued
our diplomas with value that cannot be quantified.
Lessons of life, friendship, love, and hard work
that I have learned while living in this city, I would
not change for four years anywhere else in the world.”
Vrdoljak will attend graduate school at the
University of Toronto where he will study political
theory. His older brother, Andrija ’07, now attends
Stanford Business School while their oldest brother,
Nikola ’05, works in digital marketing in Zagreb. ●
Valedictorian Tvrtko Vrdoljak ’15.
Lori Ingram ’15, Afari Owusu ’15, Professor Michele
Montecalvo, Lauren Murphy ’15, Ryan McCarthy ’15, Alexa Wilson ’15,
Paulina Lopez ’15, and Victoria Lantineri ’15.
L E F T T O R I G H T:
4 | ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | FALL 2015