Two Campuses. Two Evenings to Remember.
On the eve of this year’s Commencement ceremony, St. Joseph’s University, New York celebrated the Class of 2026 with a Toast to the Graduates: an annual semi-formal event honoring the University’s graduating class.
During what is now considered an SJNY tradition, graduating seniors, family, faculty and staff dressed to impress while enjoying refreshments and the company of those they have gotten to know closely over the last four years.
This year’s celebrations were held on May 13 and 14 on the Brooklyn and Long Island campuses respectively. Those in Brooklyn enjoyed appetizers in The Parlors before moving over to the Tuohy Hall Auditorium for dinner. Meanwhile, Long Island attendees celebrated in the Student Center, complete with hors d’oeuvres and light refreshments.
A Message from the Class of 2026
In addition to being one last celebratory event before graduation, Toast to the Graduates is also an opportunity for the Class of 2026 to hear from their peers.
This year’s Valedictorians Sulabh Katila ’26 and Victoria Corcoran ’26 (representing Brooklyn and Long Island respectively) addressed their fellow students with words of encouragement and admiration regarding all they have accomplished during their time at SJNY.
“Allow yourself to be surprising even to yourself,” Katila told his fellow students during his valedictory address. “We are leaving here as nurses, teachers, marketers, economists, mathematicians, computer scientists and business minds. We’ve earned that, but that’s not the ceiling — that’s the floor. Because one day, we will walk into a room where that may not be enough. The world might need more from us than what we already have, and our willingness to jump is the only way forward.”
“St. Joseph’s University has truly led me to grow into a person that is ready to take on the next chapters of adult life,” Corcoran shared during her speech. “No matter when or where you started, I want every student in this room to reflect on how this University has enabled us to become new and more capable versions of ourselves as we close this chapter of our lives… No matter the struggle, judgement, failure or burnout that we have felt, we have overcome it and discovered ourselves in the process.”
Donald R. Boomgaarden Leadership in Action Award Winners
The class valedictorians weren’t the only students who had their chance at the podium. Also recognized were this year’s recipients of the Donald R. Boomgaarden Leadership in Action Award.
The prestigious honor — awarded to Isa-Marie Kreuzinger ’26 on the Brooklyn Campus and Michaela Barresi ’26 on the Long Island Campus — identifies students who embody the University’s mission and its five pillars of integrity, intellectual rigor, spiritual depth, social responsibility and service.
Presented by former Sisters of St. Joseph President and SJNY professor S. Helen Kearney ’67, CSJ, Ph.D. in Brooklyn and Board of Trustees Member Matthew J. Barbis ’94, CFS, CTS on Long Island, both award recipients graciously thanked their faculty, friends and family for all their years of love and support.
A Toast to the Class of 2026
As the evenings drew to a close, SJNY alumni Samuel Bifulco ’16, president of the Long Island Alumni Board, and Benjamin Reeves ’23 encouraged the Class of 2026 to remain connected to their university community long after graduating.
Closing out the events were an official toast by the executive deans for the Brooklyn and Long campuses Phillip Dehne, Ph.D. and Eileen White Jahn, Ph.D.
Photos from Brooklyn
Photos from Long Island
