ESU Announces Spring 2015 Undergraduate Commencement Speakers

Posted by: admin on April 30, 2015, 2 Comments

With graduation imminent, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania recently selected the spring 2015 undergraduate commencement speakers.

Steve Somers, owner of Vigon International, Inc., a flavor and fragrance ingredient company, is the keynote speaker for ESU’s two undergraduate commencement ceremonies to be held Saturday, May 9 in Koehler Fieldhouse.

In 1982, Somers graduated from St. Joseph’s College and started his professional career working as a quality control chemist for Felton International in Brooklyn, N.Y. While employed, he pursued his master’s degree at St. John’s University. After graduating from St. John’s University in New York, Somers started working at Givaudan Corporation, the largest flavor and fragrance company in the world. Through the years he advanced in several positions and became vice president of sales in 1996. A year later, Somers left the company and bought his own flavor and fragrance ingredient company, Vigon International, which is located in East Stroudsburg, Pa. Since then, it has been ranked seven years running as one of the INC 5000 Fastest Growing Companies and selected three times as a result of an annual employee survey as One of the Best Companies to Work for in Pennsylvania. In the last two years, Vigon received the Governor’s Impact Awards for Small Business Impact (2013) and for Export Impact (2014). Somers is a finalist for the Ernst and Young 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year for the Greater Philadelphia Area. Somers wants to tell students the same thing he told his children.

“I encourage students to do their very best, follow their hearts, and find a career that they love so they can change the world and leave it a better place than they found it,” he said.

Serving as the student commencement speaker for the Saturday morning ceremony will be Cadia Woods, a graduating French and economics major from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Student speaker candidates must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average entering the fall semester; a demonstrated record of service to the university community and a record of leadership and cooperation; demonstrated evidence of meaningful extra/co-curricular involvement; and must be in good academic standing.

Woods served as president of the International Student Organization and a as member of the French and Economics club. With a 4.0 GPA, Woods was dedicated to academics and campus life in her time at ESU.

Like Woods, Marisa Pagán-Figueroa, a double major in English and Spanish from Stroudsburg, Pa. with a 3.923 GPA, spent her four years immersed in student life. Pagán-Figueroa was selected to be the student speaker for the afternoon ceremony.She worked for Commuter Student Services, the Student Enrollment Center, the Office of the Provost, the Office of Admission and is a tutor at the Writing Studio. She served on several executive boards and committees for student organizations including the Warrior Elite, Campus Activities Board, Student Senate, International Buddies, Sigma Tau Delta, Phi Sigma Iota and the Feminist Alliance.

“ESU has prepared me to change the world after graduation,” she said. “The opportunities I’ve been given have enriched my learning experience.”

The ceremony awarding bachelor’s degrees from ESU’s college of business and management and college of health sciences will begin at 8:45 a.m. The ceremony awarding bachelor’s degrees from ESU’s college of arts and sciences, college of education and university college will begin at 1:15 p.m.