Steven Michael Galarza Named Valedictorian of 蜜桃影像 Class of 2016
May 18, 2016
May 18, 2016, Jersey City, NJ 鈥� This Thursday evening, May 19th, Steven Michael Galaraza will take the stage at the New Jersey Performing Art Center in Newark as the Valedictorian of the 蜜桃影像 Class of 2016.
Mr. Galarza, a computer science major, will attend Rutgers University - New Brunswick this fall on a Phi Theta Kappa scholarship. He chose to study at Hudson County Community College (HCCC) after graduating from Union City High School two years ago because HCCC is affordable and close to where he lives in Union City.
During his time at HCCC Mr. Galarza, was president of the College鈥檚 Computer Science Club, a member of the Engineering Club, and a member of Beta Alpha Phi, the College鈥檚 chapter of the international honor society Phi Theta Kappa. In addition, he tutored students in math and science at the College鈥檚 award-winning Abegail Douglas-Johnson Academic Support Services Center.
Not surprisingly Mr. Galarza, who has wanted to make video games that 鈥渨ould change the world鈥� since he was a child, says his favorite memories of HCCC include being president of the Computer Science Club and 鈥渉anging out鈥� in the College鈥檚 computer labs.
Last year, Mr. Galarza was part of a team of HCCC students who attended 鈥淗ackRU鈥� at Rutgers University - New Brunswick. The two-day programming challenge event brought together undergraduate students from all over the world. The HCCC team created a prototype app named RUMe that matches roommates for the dorms. The team鈥檚 final app received attention from Addteq, a company that specializes in software release management. One of Addteq鈥檚 clients is the city of New Brunswick whose objective during the event was to find students who could help further the development of New Brunswick through technology. Impressed with the potential use of the students鈥� application in analytics, Addteq extended an offer to the HCCC students to help further develop RUMe for the city during the summer. The offer included up to $30,000 in mentoring for the summer and the opportunity to meet the mayor of New Brunswick and discuss technology with regards to the state of the city.
Mr. Galarza says there are many who have inspired and impacted his educational journey at HCCC, especially Professors Khan and Siddiqui who challenged students to think differently. He advises future HCCC students to take full advantage of all the College has to offer, to know what鈥檚 going on and to be conscious of the many opportunities that are available.
The 蜜桃影像 39th Commencement Ceremonies will be held at 6 p.m. At 1,150 strong, the HCCC Class of 2016 is the largest graduating class in the College鈥檚 history.
The keynote speaker for the ceremonies will be Dr. Nancy Cantor, the Chancellor of Rutgers University - Newark. The 2016 蜜桃影像 Heritage Award will be presented to Dr. Howard Parish, a Hudson County native who taught physics and geology at New Jersey City University for more than 35 years, and who has served on the boards of several Hudson County organizations. Reverend Victor P. Kennedy will lead the invocation that evening. Fr. Kennedy is the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Secaucus, and has served at several parishes throughout Hudson County.