{"id":1987,"date":"2018-05-25T00:22:58","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T04:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2018-05-25T00:22:58","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T04:22:58","slug":"occ-celebrates-student-achievement-expansion-at-commenement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2018\/05\/occ-celebrates-student-achievement-expansion-at-commenement\/","title":{"rendered":"OCC Celebrates Student Achievement, Expansion at Commenement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ocean

Ocean County College\u2019s 2018 commencement ceremony. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ocean County College sent more than 1,400 students off with associates degrees Thursday night, the culmination of two years of study, as the college continues to expand its four year program and adds a new medical building to its Toms River campus.<\/p>\n

Students celebrated with the usual pomp and circumstance as school and civic leaders gave some parting words of wisdom. The keynote speaker, Edele Hovnanian, spoke of her immigrant parents\u2019 dreams of making it in the United States, and their overwhelming success in the real estate industry. The family\u2019s foundation, in honor of\u00a0Hirair and Anna Hovnanian, Edele\u2019s parents, recently donated $3.75 million to the college\u2019s health sciences program, which will be housed in a state-of-the-art building that opened earlier this month. The family, however, had humble beginnings.<\/p>\n

\"Ocean

Ocean County College\u2019s 2018 commencement ceremony. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Ocean

Ocean County College\u2019s 2018 commencement ceremony. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t go on vacations, we didn\u2019t go to Disney World, but I wouldn\u2019t trade my childhood for anyone\u2019s.\u201d said Hovnanian. \u201cMy parents are very private people, and this is the first time I\u2019m sharing some bits and pieces about them in public. If you can, find a mentor. Everyone needs someone you can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hovnanian said her father was a major influence in her life, stressing commitment, and putting in the time it takes to see something through.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad always said, \u2018always have a destination and a goal in life,'\u201d she said. \u201cThen you\u2019ll always keep your goals because they\u2019ll always be on your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ocean

Ocean County College\u2019s 2018 commencement ceremony. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Ocean

Ocean County College\u2019s 2018 commencement ceremony. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Ocean

Ocean County College\u2019s 2018 commencement ceremony. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ocean County College presented 49 awards, totaling $55,200, to 71 outstanding students at its ceremony earlier this week.<\/p>\n

In addition to student awards, OCC recognized two faculty members with the 2018 Teaching Excellence Award including Dr. David Bordelon, Professor of English (Full-time Faculty), and Dr. Katherine Toy, College Lecture of Business (Professional Educator).<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ocean County College sent more than 1,400 students off with associates degrees Thursday night, the culmination of two years of study, as the college continues to expand its four year program and adds a new medical building to its Toms River campus. Students celebrated with the usual pomp and circumstance as school and civic leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[218,11],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ocean-county-news","tag-ocean-county-college","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC_0471.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}