It was a class act.
Thousands of Kings County scholars celebrated the culmination of years of study at a massive commencement ceremony at Barclays Center on May 14, where friends and family gathered to cheer on their loved ones as they paraded onto the arena’s massive stage.
“It was a meaningful day,” said Angelina Pereyra, who earned her masters degree in psychology, and shook hands with the Long Island University President Dr. Kimberly Cline as her mother, father, brother, and best friend applauded from the stands.
The huge LIU commencement featured more than 2,300 graduating students, including 1,005 baccalaureates, 9,478 masters, and 249 new doctors, who doled out high-fives and praise to their fellow graduates for their scholastic achievements amid a ceremony that managed to wrap up after only two hours despite its massive size.
The students were not awarded their diplomas during the event — the logistics, according to one student, would have been a nightmare — but the college grads look forward to receiving them in the mail sometime soon.
LIU Professor of Pharmacy Dr. Spiridon Spireas — proud owner of 130 patents and patent-publications, and hundreds of scientific papers, along with a few books — served as keynote speaker for the event.
Spireas was joined by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, founder of The Soor Center for Professional Therapy and Assessment in Kuwait, with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from LIU. He is also author of “The 99,” a comic book about a superhero team with special abilities based on the 99 attributes of Allah.
