{"id":803277,"date":"2026-05-17T17:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803277\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T17:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:14:08","slug":"congratulations-class-of-2026-new-york-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803277\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations, Class of 2026! | New York Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 17, nearly 6,000 graduates, family members, and friends joined faculty, staff, and administration at New York Institute of Technology\u2019s Long Island campus to celebrate its 65th annual commencement.<\/p>\n

The event celebrated 2,029 candidates for graduation from 67 countries and 36 states, 35 percent of whom are earning undergraduate degrees and the remainder earning graduate, medical, professional, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twenty-five members of the Class of 2026 are veterans. The youngest undergraduate student is 20 years old; the oldest is 78. Among those students earning graduate, medical, professional, postgraduate, or doctoral degrees, the youngest is 21 years old and the oldest is 70. Sixteen percent of the Class of 2026 identify as first-generation college students, and now are the first in their families to be college graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I complete my first year as president of New York Tech, I can say it has been a privilege to get to know this community better and to witness firsthand the determination, creativity, and ingenuity that define our students,\u201d said Jerry Balentine, D.O.<\/a><\/strong>, New York Tech president. \u201cThe Class of 2026 has been an important part of that story, and I am grateful to have shared in your journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewPresident Jerry Balentine<\/p>\n

Balentine conferred honorary degrees<\/a> upon Kevin S. Law, executive vice president and partner at TRITEC Development Group, where he chairs the affordable housing team, and Krishan Kumar, M.D., a clinical professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM). Law was honored with a Doctor of Laws. Kumar was honored with a Doctor of Science. Following the hooding, Law delivered the keynote address to the Class of 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to take chances. Don\u2019t be afraid to change careers or change jobs,\u201d said Law. \u201cWhen I look out to this crowd, to all the students, I have hope. You are going to be our future leaders. And so, I\u2019m excited about the future. I have hope for the future because of students like you. So, go seize the day. Congratulations to the class in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AleezaAleeza Mughal<\/p>\n

Two members of the Class of 2026 also assisted in hooding the honorary degree recipients: Aleeza Mughal<\/strong><\/a>, a biology major from Bethpage, N.Y., served as the student orator. Monica Orellana Ayala<\/strong>, an architecture major from Lindenhurst, N.Y., sang the national anthem.<\/p>\n

Mughal shared, \u201cNew York Tech helped us dream. And it gave us the tools to build them. We leave here with more than academic degrees; we leave with purpose. Even when the world feels uncertain, we\u2019re now ready to step forward with what we\u2019ve learned, who we\u2019ve become, and are ready to make a difference.\u201d Mughal also recounted her first visit to New York Tech six years ago when her sister Emaan enrolled and her family relocated from Virginia to New York.<\/p>\n

\"MonicaMonica Orellana Ayala<\/p>\n

To her classmates, Mughal said, \u201cWe are not just graduates of New York Tech. We are builders. Builders of dreams. Builders of communities. And builders of the future we\u2019ve worked so hard to create. Congratulations, Class of 2026! Now let\u2019s go build what\u2019s next!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the main ceremony, students were recognized individually at in-person graduations for the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, School of Architecture and Design, School of Health Professions, and School of Management.<\/p>\n

In addition, NYITCOM held a hooding ceremony for the Class of 2026 from the Long Island campus later in the afternoon; the Class of 2026 at the Jonesboro, Ark., location will be hooded on May 22. Graduation for New York Tech\u2019s Vancouver campus is scheduled for November 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On May 17, nearly 6,000 graduates, family members, and friends joined faculty, staff, and administration at New York…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":803278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,223274,6084,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-803277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-commencement","10":"tag-long-island","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116591046416023490","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}