Derik Cool of Fairfield Graduates from Lebanon Valley College

2012 May 22

Derik C. Cool of Fairfield, Pa., was among more than 430 students to graduate from Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa., Saturday, May 12. Commencement ceremonies, held on the beautiful Academic Quad, included an address by Dr. Catherine Romagnolo, associate professor of English and winner of the 2011 Thomas Rhys Vickroy Award for teaching.

Romagnolo wondered what the first graduating class at LVC, the class of 1870, would have been thinking as they prepared to move on from college, and offered this advice: "Never underestimate the power of words, use your words to make change, circulate a discourse of kindness and acceptance, and your world will be an accepting and kind place to live. 'Put an alternative discourse into circulation.'"

Cool earned a bachelor of arts degree in English. Cool graduated Cum Laude and was named to Who's Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges.

Cool is a graduate of Fairfield Area High School.

Additional commencement photos are available at www.facebook.com/lebanonvalleycollege.

Lebanon Valley College™ in Annville, Pa., welcomes 1,630 full-time undergraduates studying more than 30 majors, as well as self-designed majors. Founded in 1866, LVC has graduate programs in physical therapy, business, and music and science education. Annville is 15 minutes east of Hershey and 35 minutes east of Harrisburg; Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore are within two hours. On the web at www.lvc.edu.

A high resolution photo is available for download at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lvc1866/7198310628/in/set-72157629740241356/