Bergen Community College

Bergen Community College Commencement 2025.

PARAMUS, N.J. – For the first time in Bergen Community College history, its commencement ceremony will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark on Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. Bergen’s commencement venue for the last nine years, MetLife Stadium, could not accommodate this year’s event due to the venue’s 2026 World Cup obligations.

The College’s signature event of the academic year will feature more than 2,000 candidates for graduation and approximately 7,000 family, friends, faculty, staff and special guests in attendance. Student Alexie Kotfisz has earned the title of valedictorian as the top student in the class of 2026, while State Assemblywoman Lisa Swain (D-38) will serve as the keynote speaker for the College’s 57^th annual commencement exercises.

Kotfisz, who has earned a 4.0 GPA, entered the College expecting to pursue a career in the culinary arts after earning acclaim as a top high school pastry chef. However, enrolling at Bergen unlocked another interest – mathematics – that ultimately inspired her to change her entire professional outlook. She will now graduate from Bergen and transfer to Ramapo University this fall to prepare to enter the field of mathematics education. At Bergen, Kotfisz took an active role on campus, tutoring students at the award-winning Cerullo Learning Assistance Center, serving as an NJ STARS ambassador and working as an admissions representative. She also founded the student accounting club.

Meanwhile the event’s keynote speaker, Assemblywoman Swain, has served as an elected official for nearly two decades, first on the Fair Lawn Borough Council from 2008 to 2018 (with two terms as mayor) and now as a state assemblywoman for the past eight years. In the New Jersey Legislature, she has prioritized supporting bills that expand access to healthcare, promote sustainability and advance opportunities in education. Swain has chaired the assembly’s appropriations committee since 2022.

Joining Kotfisz and Swain as commencement headliners, class of 2026 member Sienna Jorge will perform the Star-Spangled Banner, while Student Government Association President Liam Setti will lead graduates in the ceremonial turning of tassels. The class also features 66 students who have earned 4.0 GPAs, 15 members of the College’s Turning Point Program for neurodiverse adults and 206 local high school students who will earn degrees through Bergen’s early college program.

Special guests will include Bergen County Executive James J. Tedesco III and Bergen County Board of Commissioner Chair Steven A. Tanelli, who will both provide remarks, and Professor Emerita Sarah Markgraf, Ph.D., will open the event as the grand marshal. College Board of Trustees Chair Dorothy Blakeslee and President Eric M. Friedman, Ph.D., will also address the graduates while Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Andrew Tomko, Ph.D., will serve as master of ceremonies.

The College will livestream Commencement 2026 beginning with a preshow at 9:30 a.m. on Bergen.edu and all of its official social media.

Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 24,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

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