Jessika M. Baer

Jessika M. Baer
Senior, Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Monroe Township, New Jersey, resident Jessika Baer will graduate in August 2009 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. Ms. Baer is the recipient of the Susan and Colin Ungaro Alumni Association Scholarship, the William Paterson University Employees Scholarship, and the University Educational Enrichment Scholarship.

Baer, whose grade point average is 3.785, has a record of solid academic achievement. She has made the Dean’s List at William Paterson for seven of eight semesters, and is on track to do so again one last time.

At William Paterson University, Baer is part of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) on whose behalf she traveled after Hurricane Katrina to Mississippi to assist those in need, as well as to Washington, D.C., to speak out against genocide in Darfur. Through her church youth group at home, the First Baptist Church of Hightstown, she has helped sponsor a food pantry program for the disabled and financially needy, has participated in two missions to help several impoverished communities, volunteered at vacation Bible school, and is part of the Big Brother
Big Sister program.

Outside of church, Baer has worked as a concession/box office supervisor at her local movie theater. More importantly, she has served a substitute teacher for the Monroe Township School district. After graduation, she hopes to continue to work with adolescents, for whom she hopes to serve as an example and a positive influence.

Mary Campomizzi

Mary Campomizzi
Junior, Elementary and Early Childhood Education/English, College of Education

Mary Campomizzi chose to attend William Paterson University to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. This first-generation student is a junior majoring in both elementary education and middle school education, as well as English. She is the recipient of numerous scholarships. In 2007-2008, Campomizzi received the Maltese Family Scholarship in addition to the Anna Freund Scholarship. For the current academic year, she was awarded the Arnold and Myrna Speert Scholarship, as well as the Vincent Moretta Scholarship. These awards not only provide Campomizzi much needed financial relief, but also motivation evidenced by her current 4.0 GPA. In October 2008, she was inducted into the Beta Chi chapter of Pi Lambda Theta, an international honor society and professional association
in education.

Campomizzi relates that, in high school, she only dreamt of higher education. Upon graduation from Passaic County Tech in 1986, she set that dream aside and began work as a secretary. Her decision to attend William Paterson twenty years later made a profound impact on her life and future. Today, in addition to be being a scholar and a self-described “bookworm,” she spends most of her spare time as an enthusiastic fan at her children’s sporting events. She also plays in the Hawthorne Women’s Softball League, and has applied for a substitute teacher’s license. Ms. Campomizzi hopes her William Paterson degree will allow her, as an educator, to encourage others to reach for their dreams.

Campomizzi is a wife of eighteen years and a mother of three children: Patrick, thirteen, and twins Angelina and Joey, twelve.

Vojtech Karas

Vojtech Karas
Senior, Computer Science, College of Science and Health

A senior who is majoring in computer science at William Paterson, Morris Plains resident Vojtech Karas is currently a recipient of the Margaret Landi Scholarship and the Raymond Miller Scholarship. Since transferring from Passaic County Community College (PCCC) to William Paterson in 2006, he has earned a GPA of 3.89—but a 4.0 in his own computer science major— and made the Dean’s List in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Karas started swimming competitively at the age of nine in the Czech Republic where he was born. He attended a Czech athletic preparatory school and graduated as class president in 2003 with honors. Karas was also ranked number nine in the country in the 200-yard freestyle. Upon graduating, he emigrated to the U.S., married, and, while working, began studying part-time at PCCC.

At William Paterson, Karas joined the university’s swim team and was elected team captain in 2007. In 2008, he was inducted into Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines. He also served as vice president of the computer science society, Upsilon Pi Epsilon, Gamma Chapter, and is currently vice president of the Association for Computing Machinery Student Chapter, Computer Science Society (ACM/CSS).

Karas is also a tutor for the computer science department. In addition, Professor Bogong Su of the computer science department and Professor Cyril Ku, computer science department chair, chose him to work in the Student Undergraduate Research Program where he is developing new benchmarks for the wireless cellular industry. Karas, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science upon his graduation next May, states that these activities and honors are possible only because of the scholarships he has been awarded. That he has worked part-time as a clown for private parties for the past three years only serves to complement his many accomplishments.

Michael McDonald

Michael McDonald
Senior, College of the Arts and Communication

Michael McDonald is a senior in the College of Arts and Communication who is majoring in the journalism and public relations concentration in communication. At present, he is the recipient of the Maltese Family Scholarship and William Corrente Alumni Assocation Scholarship, for which he says he is deeply appreciative.

McDonald came to William Paterson in a circuitous, but interesting, way. A first-generation college student from Richmond, Virginia, he received an associate’s degree from J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College, and then transferred to Pikeville College in pursuit of a college national championship in bowling.
After discovering that the school wasn’t the right fit, McDonald decided to transfer to William Paterson in 2007 to major in communication, but to pursue his love of bowling, as well. He claims that being part of a nationally recognized team that finished third in the nation last year—one that will be competing with the top ten in the nation this year—has been a wonderful experience. Conversely, he has undertaken a huge financial burden to attend school here as an out-of-state student.

McDonald has been on the Dean’s List every semester at William Paterson, as well as five previous semesters at the other institutions. At the University, he is a member of the Student Public Relations Society of America, and also a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the communication honors society. Currently, he holds an internship at the public relations firm, MWW Group, in East Rutherford. Upon graduation, he hopes to attend graduate school for an M.B.A in marketing.

Krystle Whitlock

Krystle Whitlock
Senior, Business Administration, Cotsakos College of Business

Krystle Whitlock, a senior who is a business major with a concentration in finance and a minor in economics, will graduate in May 2009. Whitlock is grateful to be the recipient of the Audrey and Albert Pelham Scholarship for four years and, for the current academic year, the recipient of an Alumni Association Academic Achievement and Community Services Scholarship in honor of Marie Macioci.

Whitlock has made education one of the keys to unlock the door to success in life. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Whitlock will be the first of her generation to graduate from college, for which she is particularly thankful to her grandmother for her encouragement to take advantage of opportunities that she did not have.

In June 2005, Ms. Whitlock graduated from Newark’s University High School of the Humanities with honors; at the time, she had also been selected as one of the top forty seniors in the country by Ebony magazine. Whitlock began attending William Paterson that fall and worked hard to attain scholarships in order to ease her financial burden. From her first semester in college, her goal was to not only graduate from William Paterson within four years with a bachelor’s degree, but to do so with honors. She chose a challenging course of study by taking eighteen credits each semester, requiring extra time for study, being tutored in certain subjects, and attending summer courses.

As a result of hard work and diligence, Whitlock has been on the Dean’s List for the past five semesters and inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. She is a member of the Student Activities Programming Board (SABB) on campus, and, off campus, a student leader in the Essex County Anti-Violence Coalition. In addition, she currently works part-time at the Laurie Brozowski State Farm Insurance Agency in Wayne. While working at the agency, she has decided to continue in the industry following graduation and looks forward to becoming a successful African American businesswoman.