More than 100 students and their families gathered for Naugatuck Valley Community College's annual Honors Night on Tuesday, May 28 at the College's Fine Arts Center. Honors Night highlights achievements made by both graduating and returning students over the course of the academic year.

NVCC President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D. congratulated students for excelling in their studies and choosing to make the most of their experience at the College. 

“As I look around this evening, I see many reasons to celebrate,” said President De Filippis. “We celebrate the courage to embrace hard work and change, the perseverance to overcome challenges and stay the course, and the triumph of the human spirit in each of your faces.”

President De Filippis thanked the College’s faculty, professional staff and management team for their dedication to NVCC’s mission. In addition, she recognized fellow college presidents and colleagues who were on hand to award the seven President-to-President Scholarships. 

The ceremony also included memorial scholarships and industry awards recognizing students of distinction, including the Ruth Ann Leever Memorial Scholarship, presented to a student who has shown excellence in the pursuit of Orchestral Music, the Rachel D’Avino Memorial Scholarship, awarded to an outstanding student pursuing a career in applied behavior analysis, and six annual scholarships from The Siemon Company for manufacturing and engineering students.

Student Andrew O’Dell of Beacon Falls, who received a certificate in Advanced Manufacturing at NVCC’s 50^thCommencement on May 28, was the recipient of the Dr. Rick Weber Memorial Award, which is given to a returning engineering or manufacturing student.

“It provides a great sense of accomplishment knowing that I worked very hard through this program,” says O’Dell. His target fields include electrical engineering and manufacturing as he continues his education.

Of particular note at Honors Night was the ongoing academic success of the Dooling family. Mary Dooling was honored for earning the top score among NVCC students at the 25^th Annual Connecticut Community College State Mathematics Contest. Her son, Mitchell Dooling, took second place. His brother, Jacob Dooling, was NVCC’s 2013 valedictorian and continued on to Johns Hopkins University, where he received a full scholarship. 

View a full list of this year's scholarship and award recipients.

Students who were inducted into the College’s honor societies were also recognized during the ceremony. New members of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, which recognizes outstanding academic achievement, totaled 173. Forty-one students were honored for their induction into the Alpha Beta Gamma business honor society. Epsilon Pi Tau, which encourages academic excellence of students in fields devoted to the general study of technology, inducted 14 members during the 2014-15 academic year.