SUNY Oswego community to celebrate Torchlight on May 13

SUNY Oswego will welcome the newest class transitioning to its alumni family at the Commencement Eve Torchlight Dinner and Ceremony Friday, May 13, in the Marano Campus Center. 

The dinner will begin at 7 p.m., and writing and theater alumna Dresden Engle of the class of 1988 will deliver the keynote address. Seniors Megan Maye and Samantha Schou will be the co-emcees.

Engle is a nationally award-winning communications professional who owns and operates the firm Dresden Public Relations in Rochester. Her professional honors include the Up & Coming Businesswoman Award and Marketer of the Year. A popular speaker at national conferences, Dresden is also a professional actress, singer and comedian. Her sketch-comedy troupe has performed off-Broadway, and she has appeared in TV commercials, films and music videos.

Dresden earned a bachelor’s degree in writing and theater from SUNY Oswego in 1988 and a master’s in communication from SUNY Brockport, where she currently teaches upper-level public relations courses. At Oswego, Dresden was a founding member of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and was involved in The Oswegonian, the yearbook and several theater productions. Singing at the Commencement Eve Torchlight Ceremony is one of her most treasured Oswego memories.

Senior support

During the dinner, Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Laura Pavlus Kelly (a 2009 SUNY Oswego graduate) will present the Outstanding Senior Awards. Senior Jami Celeste, philanthropy coordinator for the senior class, will present the 2016 Senior Class Gift to SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley.

The dinner—attended by imminent graduates, families and alumni—is followed by the Senior Sing at 8:30 p.m. on the north lawn and the academic procession and Torchlight Ceremony at 9 p.m. Senior business administration major Darlene Le of Utica will deliver the address to graduates during the ceremony.

Le, the first in her family to attend college, has been involved with Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, the Newman Club, the Taekwondo Club, the Auxiliary Services Board and the Senior Class Planning Committee. She interned with Oswego Transfer Services, Career Services and the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni Sharing Knowledge program. She is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society and Vega, the women’s honor society, and is the recipient of the Paul Family Scholarship. In the fall, she will pursue a master’s degree in higher education at Syracuse University.

Other seniors serving key roles in the ceremony will include student emcee Zachary Kakuda, torchbearer Reid Adler, and Rebecca Howe and Ashley Thompson representing the class of 2016 graduates in the inner circle. The dinner and ceremony are sponsored by the Oswego Alumni Association, with support from The Fund for Oswego and Auxiliary Services. 

For more information, visit alumni.oswego.edu/torchlight.