Monmouth University held its annual spring commencement held its annual commencement for more than 1,100 graduates at PNC Bank Arts Center on Friday.
HOLMDEL - More than 1,100 graduates received diplomas from Monmouth University on Friday afternoon, as the West Long Branch university held its annual spring commencement ceremony at PNC Bank Arts Center.
The class included 722 bachelor's degree recipients , 325 master's degree recipients three doctoral degree recipients.
Monmouth University's President Paul Brown said this year's graduates had to deal with major transformation and change almost immediately into their college tenures.
Less than two months after they arrived on campus as freshmen, Hurricane Sandy devastated the Jersey Shore and forced the university's campus to close.
"As you graduate, I ask you carry with you the drive and tenacity that has marked your class," Brown said. "And I ask you to carry the bonds of mutual respect and compassion that you have demonstrated during your years at Monmouth."
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx delivered this year's commencement address.
Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Transportation, Foxx served as mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina from 2009 to 2013, as well as a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and staff counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary.
Foxx told the graduates three stories from his life and his ancestry - which he tracked back to a 7-year-old girls who was sold on an auction block in North Carolina during the 1860's - to inspire them to set their own goals and then fight through adversity.
"I wish for you graduates, in every important endeavor, that when you feel pushed against the wall of futility, then you find it within yourself to have the resilience and the strength and the stubbornness to accomplish things you never thought you could," Foxx said. "Right when resistance hits its peak is where you're most likely to break through."
Henry Mercer, the chairman of Monmouth University's Board of Trustees encouraged the students to not let their college years be the best years of their lives.
"I sincerely hope - and I believe - that the best years of your life begin right now," Mercer said.
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