East Brunswick Student Graduates at the Top of MCC's Class

Middlesex County College will give out 1,385 degrees and certificates to 1,324 graduates today, as the college holds its annual commencement.  

According to college spokesman Tom Peterson, 650 of those students are expected to walk in caps and gowns in the college's commencement ceremony, including class valedictorian Christina Catalano of East Brunswick.

Catalano, 21, graduates with a 4.0 grade point average.

Catalano said that Middlesex County College is all in the family.

Her mother, father, brother, boyfriend and several aunts and uncles have all attended the county college, she said.

"It's convenient and it is a good school," she said.

Catalano plans to transfer to Richard Stockton College to pursue a degree in physical therapy.

"I was interested in the medical field so I looked around (and) started working in a physical therapy center in Edison," she said. "I really liked it."

During her time at Middlesex County College, Catalano also worked at a steakhouse, as a baby sitter and in after care. When not working, she was involved with student government, the college Biology Society and the academic honor society of Phi Beta Kappa.

When she takes the podium before her classmates to give her speech, she plans to discuss a meeting she had with a student from Pakistan on her first day of classes, and how this meeting inspired her to give her education full effort.

"That day, I decided to shape up. I did not have to travel 7000 miles to go to Middlesex. My education waited right outside my door and I was going to grab it by the horns and run full force," Catalano said, in en excerpt from her speech. "My first semester at college would not be like high school. This gift would lay the foundation for the rest of my life."