From the Connecticut Post:

http://www.connpost.com/fastsearchresults/ci_5930729

FAIRFIELD — Graduates of St. Vincent's College in Bridgeport left with some homework Friday.

Commencement speaker Jonathan M. Daube asked them to write a letter to someone who's made a difference in their lives, read daily, take informed points of view on major issues of the day and strike up at least one meaningful conversation with someone with whom they disagree.

Above all, Daube, president of Manchester Community College, told the new health-care professionals to be nice.

"You can be firm, but still be nice," he said.

In all, 74 associate's degrees were handed out by the college during commencement at Fairfield University's Quick Center. Most were nursing majors, but 12 students majored in radiography.

The school also handed out its first general studies degree to Cynthia L. Roberts, of East Windsor. She said the college was the right fit, and plans to continue her education in hopes of becoming a cardiologist.

Class speaker Robin Conaty, a single mother from Shelton and winner of several academic awards, called the journey to a degree a demanding one.

"I would often joke, that none of us were truly safe until we are sitting at the Quick Center," she told classmates.

Like many, Conaty embarked on nursing as a second career. She previously worked as a secretary and medical assistant. Now, she will go to work at Halbrook Behavioral Health in Westport and plans to go on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees.

The class also included two sisters from Monroe, a mother and son from Fairfield and a mother and daughter from Orange.

Courtney Forte, 23, and her sister, Caitlin, 20, both graduated with degrees in radiography.

Caitlin, who already has a job lined up in the electrophysiology heart lab at St. Vincent's Medical Center, said that radiology interested her more than nursing.

"To be able to see the human body, all the bones," she said.

Rose D'Angelo, of Orange, received a nursing degree while her daughter, Sandra D'Angelo, majored in radiography.

"My job was relocated. We need nurses. The time was right," said Rose, who used to work at US Baird in Stratford. Now she works at the Hospital of St. Raphael in New Haven.

Marjorie Tremel, 54, of Fairfield, received a nursing degree; her son, Michael Jucha, 22, a radiography degree.

"It was very, very interesting," said Tremel, who worked in the food services industry for 30 years, but always wanted to be a nurse. Several years ago she began working as a dietary assistant at St. Vincent's Medical Center and took advantage of its tuition reimbursement program, taking classes at night for five years.

She has a job lined up on the seventh-floor medical surgical unit at St. Vincent's.

Jucha, meanwhile, switched from engineering to radiology after he discovered his tastes are more toward science and technology than math.

Because they had different majors, Jucha said he and his mother never shared a class.

"But at times, you'd know she was there on campus," he said.

Daube told the grads they were all trained to make a difference and to save lives.

"Nursing is hard work, challenging work. Can you think of anything better than being a nurse?" he said.