Greetings.
Today is a beautiful day in Scranton,
Pennsylvania.
Hope it is beautiful where you are. Dean,
featured speakers, family, friends
and loved ones. More importantly,
greetings, greetings to Geisinger
Commonwealth School of Medicine
2020 first-gen graduates.
Thank you all for joining us for GCSOM
third annual First-Generation
Celebration of Achievement.
This year's theme is: Pathways
to Success:
Perfect Vision in 2020.
This ceremony is the first ceremony of
four
and we are excited and honored
to kick off the ceremonies for Geisinger
Commonwealth School of Medicine.
Please click on the
commencement link to see all the other
ceremonies and I hope you all can
join us for that plus our commencement
that will be happening today as well.
It's located
on the GCSOM website so
please join us. I've already sent you the
program booklet so please use that to
follow along
and now I'm going to ask Brian Krause
to go ahead and start the ceremony. Thank
you all for joining us.
Greetings. My name is Dr. Vicki T.
Sapp. I am the director for student
engagement,
diversity and inclusion and assistant
professor in the medical education
department
at Geisinger Commonwealth School of
Medicine.
I also serve as the chair of the First-Generation
and Ally Student Support Committee here
at
GCSOM. The first-gen
committee is made up of 29 faculty,
staff and students and we are
responsible for providing wrap-around
services
and resources as well as advisement
support and advocacy for
first-generation students
to equip them with the tools to be
empowered
in our country and worldwide. We are in
the midst of
the COVID-19 pandemic
and have been asked to practice social
distancing.
To honor that request this ceremony is
being pre-recorded
and offered virtually. I would like to
ask you all
to take a pause, take a moment of silence
to remember those who we have lost
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I would also like to ask you all to take
a pause,
take a moment of silence to be grateful
and appreciative
of those who are still with us and those
whom we love
appreciate and are grateful for being in
our lives
and embracing our relationship with them
during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for joining me and taking time
to just pause to be mindful, thankful
and reflective. Congratulations,
Class of 2020.
Congratulations, Class of 2020.
This is the third annual First-
Generation
Celebration of Achievement Award
Ceremony.
This year's theme is Pathways to Success:
Perfect Vision in 2020.
Institutions of higher education
worldwide participate in similar
ceremonies to recognize
students who self-identify as
first-generation college students
and first-generation graduates from
graduate school
as well as medical school. The purpose of
this ceremony is to embody
Geisinger commonwealth's mission of
being committed to inclusion.
The ceremony is perfectly situated at
the end of the academic year
to celebrate the accomplishment and
achievements of students.
It is an opportunity for the college
students,
family and friends to celebrate their
graduate's
accomplishments. The in-person ceremony
calls for the graduate accompanied by
their family
and loved one to report to the front of
the auditorium
so that their loved one can present them
with a stoll,
"I'm first" lapel pin
and award certificate as a symbolic
act of honor to their family
for being the first person to obtain
an advanced degree. It is a
honor that the family bestows to the
graduate
for being the first person
in their family to get a graduate or a
medical degree.
For this virtual ceremony we will
display selected pictures
by the graduates to showcase their lived
experiences while obtaining their degree
at GCSOM. We would also like to ask the family
members
to take a picture and or video
with their graduate to submit it
and make sure that when they put on
their academic regalia
and you hood your graduate that you also
put on this first generation stall
and take a picture and video and submit
it so that it could be displayed
at commencement doing the virtual
commencement that is scheduled to happen
later today. So okay
now that we have taken care of all of
that without further ado
let's get this celebration started.
You're going to hear welcoming remarks
from a
number of our senior leaders. You're
going to see
a PowerPoint display of the students
with their lived
experiences and then i'm going to come
back
and I'm going to close out this ceremony.
So please join me in extending a
warm and heartfelt welcome to our
President
and Dean Dr. Scheinman.
Dr. Scheinman will provide welcoming remarks
on behalf of Geisinger Commonwealth
School of Medicine.
I will see you all at the end of the
ceremony.
Enjoy.
Greetings and congratulations
to our first-generation graduates. I'm
thrilled to have this opportunity
to celebrate your accomplishments with
you.
I think you already know that this
school takes particular pride
in the fact that nearly a quarter of our
students are first-generation-to-college.
It's something that I'm personally very
proud of and there are several reasons
for this.
First of all it's important that our
physician workforce
resemble the population of patients that
they'll take care of
and it is certainly not every patient
who has had the opportunity to go to
college
let alone graduate school. Second of all
it represents opportunity. It opens doors.
I'm not first-generation but both of my
parents were.
My father was born in a farmhouse.
He went on to go to college, law school,
became a respected attorney, a district
attorney
and a senior judge. So I
saw in his life the transformative power
of education.
But I have felt it in my own in the ways
that my own education
opened windows and perspectives that I
might not have appreciated
without it so I'm very proud of
my family's humble roots and I'm
particularly proud of you
as first-generation graduates of medical
school.
I'm excited to think about the careers
of service that you have
ahead of you and the opportunities that
you have ahead of you
thanks to having worked so hard to get
to where you are today.
So i'm thrilled to have this opportunity
to celebrate with you
and I hope although this is a virtual
ceremony,
I still hope that it's exciting and a
thrilling moment for you.
Congratulations.
Hello and welcome to the first-generation celebration.
I'd like to add my welcome to those
others that you've heard already
today. My name is Dr. Tanja Adonizio
and I'm the associate dean of Student
Affairs.
As a first-generation student myself and
the child of
immigrants, excuse me,
this celebration is particularly
important to me
in recognizing the achievement, the
unique
challenges and opportunities that this
brings.
I'd also like to thank Dr. Vicki T. Sapp
for bringing this celebration
and the recognition,
and the importance of recognizing the
first-generation experience to our
institution.
She also started the first-generation
committee that has led such important
initiatives
as mentoring and community building and
the food pantry to our school.
And most importantly I would like to
congratulate
all of you and your families.
Today is really a tremendous recognition
of all of your hard work,
dedication, commitment
to your education and to making a
difference in the world.
Thank you for all of your efforts and
thank you to your families.
Now I'd like to introduce Mr. Len Farber
who will give an introduction and
welcome from the graduate school.
Thanks so much and enjoy your ceremony.
Welcome, students, faculty, staff
administration, family and friends. My
name is Len Farber, director of queer
engagement
at Geisinger Commonwealth School of
Medicine. It is my pleasure to welcome
you on behalf of the School of Graduate
Education.
While I work primarily with our master's
students
attaining their master's in biomedical
sciences
I'd like to extend my greetings to the
students
today who will be graduating, our md
students.
I too was a first-generation college
student for both my undergraduate and
graduate degrees.
Like you I was the first to experience
the challenges and successes of college.
When I started college back as an
undergraduate I was quite scared and
thought, "How can I do this?"
I didn't have any individuals from my
family or network to help
or advise me as I started my educational
path.
Then at some point during my freshman
year I figured out
that I did have others. While I did have
the support of family and friends
I realized that my mentors were peers,
faculty, staff,
supervisors and co-workers. These
individuals helped guide me through
what at times felt very overwhelming.
I'm confident by you achieving your
academic goals today
that you too have found guides and
mentors to assist you
in your educational path. It was through
my college experience that I learned the
importance
of interdependence development. Meaning at times I had to make my own
decisions but could seek
the support of others for guidance,
advisement
and friendship. While you may be a first-
generation
college student I am sure that you've
had these supports during your college
experience. Please keep this in mind as
you experience
new challenges and depart our
institution.
At times you will need to look for
others for support
and guidance. The theme for the ceremony
today is Pathways to Success.
As you create your own pathway I am
confident that the experiences that
you've had at Geisinger Commonwealth
School of Medicine and the lasting
friendships that you have made
will serve you well. On behalf of the
School of Graduate Education
I wish you the very best in achieving
your future academic and career goals.
Congratulations, MBS
and MD Class of 2020.
Hi, I'm Dr. Bill Jeffries, vice dean for
Medical Education.
I want to thank the community for the
opportunity to participate in this
celebration. You've come very far and
overcome countless challenges on your
journey
and it's safe to say that you must be
bursting with pride.
I'm a first-generation ally. I'm not a
first-generation graduate
but i've always been inspired by my
father who was the first and only member
of his family to graduate from college.
He was able to do this only because of
the GI Bill
which enabled him to attend college
while he was recovering from his
injuries and malnutrition
suffered during his internment as a
prisoner of war.
He graduated from Temple with a double
major in 26 months
which is still a record. He continues to
serve as a role model and inspiration to
me and my family
much as I am sure that you are and will
continue to be
an inspiration to your family and
communities.
Speaking of families I would like to
deliver a special word to the families
of our graduates.
I can only imagine how proud you are
today as a parent.
I always wanted the very best for my
children
and to proudly watch them eclipse my own
personal achievements.
Therefore I want to echo the sentiments
of my colleagues in saluting your
sacrifices.
And I want to wish all of our graduates
the very best as you continue in your
careers.
I can say with great certainty that you
have achieved
a fantastic milestone in your future
success
and that the support of countless people
helped get you to this level.
As aptly stated by the philosopher
Matshona Dhliwayo: "One who conquers the sea today
is ready to conquer the ocean tomorrow."
So go out and continue to achieve and
make all of us proud.
Thank you and congratulations.
Please join me in welcoming Mr. Chris Boland
who's going to welcome you and invite
you as members to our Alumni Association.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Chris Boland and I am
the director of Alumni Relations at your
medical school.
I am honored to have the chance to
address you today. Thank you to Dr. Sapp
and her team for the opportunity to
speak with you and for all that they do
for our students
and for our school. I want to start by
saying congratulations
to all of you our first-generation
graduates to your families
and to today's award recipients whether
or not you received an award today
you should all be commended on your
courage,
toughness, determination and vision as
well as your intellect
and work ethic. Both of my grandfathers
were first-generation irish immigrants
and both were the first in their
families to graduate from college.
I view them as pioneers within our
family, heroes who have the bravery to
achieve their dreams.
Although they did not realize it at the
time those two young men helped to lay
my family's educational foundation and
thankfully establish what will become
the norm
for future generations within my family.
I will always be grateful and indebted
to my grandfathers
and to their families for their
fortitude and sacrifice
and for giving our family a brighter
future.
You are all currently doing the same
thing for your families,
both present and future generations. You
will be viewed as the pioneers within
your family who had the ability
and the perseverance, to fulfill your
dreams.
You have set a wonderful example for
your entire family
and your community and have laid the
groundwork for those who will follow you.
Your success is immeasurable.
Thank you for grinding when you could
have easily given up. Thank you for
believing in yourself when others may
have doubted you.
Thank you for not allowing fear to deter
you.
Thank you for having the courage of your
convictions. Thank you for setting a
beautiful example for everyone to
emulate.
Finally thank you to your families and
everyone along the way
who helped you to achieve your lofty
goals and dreams.
No one does this alone so
congratulations to your families
and support systems for helping to make
this day
a reality. I look forward to staying in
good contact with you
as the newest alumni of Geisinger
Commonwealth School of Medicine.
Please know that I will happily be a
resource for all of you and encourage
you to remain in touch with one another.
Your alumni society can be a great tool
for you both personally
and professionally as long as we all
stay connected.
No matter where life takes you please
consider this school to be one of your
homes
to which you are always welcome to
return.
We are proud of you and look forward to
learning of your future successes both
personal
and professional. Again congratulations
to you and your families on this most
joyous occasion. Thank you for your time
and best of luck to all of you in your
extremely bright futures.
Now please join me in welcoming back the
chair of the First-Generation and Ally
Student Support Committee Dr. Vicki T. Sapp to provide final remarks.
I'm taking screenshots.
Come on keep it coming keep it coming
I'm almost done.
Congratulations.
Good job, everyone. Congratulations.
Congratulations, family.
Thank you all. Join the rest of the
ceremonies.
Bye bye. Bye everybody, congratulations.
Congratulations, everybody.
Congratulations.
Good job. Thank you. Thank you.
Bye. Good job, Vicki. 
Thank you,. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Sapp.
You're welcome. Thank you, Vicki.
