TCNJ News
For Immediate Release
April 17, 2008
TCNJ Alumni Association to honor three distinguished alums to kick off
Reunion Weekend 2008
EWING, NJ … The College of New Jersey’s Alumni Association will present its Alumni Leadership Awards on May 2 at 7 p.m. in the Mildred and Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall to celebrate education and leadership by honoring three distinguished alumni. Awards will be presented to Roy Berenotto ’50 for Distinguished Service, Lucia Spera DiPolvere ’55 for Humanitarian, and Rosie Rosen Hymerling ’67 for Alumni Citation. The awards are being presented as part of Reunion Weekend (May 2-4), which this year honors the classes of 1958, 1983 and 1998. The other activities include campus tours, a BBQ, concerts, and wine tasting.
Roy Berenotto’s service to the College extends back to the late 1940s when the U.S. Navy Veteran of World War II served as class president during his last three years of school. One of his main objectives was to facilitate the College’s shift from a strictly-controlled academic and social environment to a more liberal education community. After graduating with a BS in secondary school teaching, he kept in touch with a group of classmates, organizing well-attended reunions and funding donations to the College. Today, Roy lives in Florida but still organizes meetings with other alumni who have retired there as well. He also serves as one of the three trustees of the Jeffrey Ralston Foundation, which has helped support numerous scholarships for students enrolled at TCNJ as criminology and justice studies majors. Since entering the College over 60 years ago, Roy has maintained a continuing service and leadership relationship with his classmates, the Alumni Association and the College community.
Earning her BS in elementary education in 1955, Lucia Spera DiPolvere founded and directed the DiPolvere Nursery School for 23 years. When she retired, her service to the community didn’t stop. In fact, retirement gave her the opportunity to devote even more time to helping others. She has been active with the Contemporary Club of Trenton, holding several offices and chairmanships to provide service to the community. Lucia is also concerned with preserving history as a charter member of the Historical Society of West Windsor as well as the “War of the Worlds” Steering Committee. A conservationist, she has dedicated her time to environmental efforts. In 1998, she raised money to provide the Harrison School in Trenton with three large trees to provide shade, beauty, air-cleaning properties, and a habitat for animals. She also serves on the Children’s Speaker’s Committee of the Master Gardeners and helps maintain gardens at Mercer County Compost Demonstration Site.
Rosie Hymerling has established herself as a “legend,” according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. A kindergarten teacher at J. Fithian Tatem Elementary School in Haddonfield for 35 years, she recently retired in June of 2007. When news of her retirement hit, there was a flood of tributes— including a video and the first-ever Garden State Discovery Museum Achievement Award. Today, Hymerling still works at the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill as well as at Temple Emanuel Religious School. She also offers consulting for education organizations, including the New Jersey Education Association for whom she served as a presenter at the annual convention. Hymerling continues to support the campus community, holding fundraisers at her home in both 2007 and 2008 with over 50 alumni and prospective students in attendance. She has contributed to the College’s Annual fund and serves as a class agent for the Class of 1967.
For more information about TCNJ’s Reunion Weekend, please visit www.tcnj.edu/~alumni/reunions
About The College of New Jersey
TCNJ currently is ranked as one of the 75 "Most Competitive" schools in the nation by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, is rated the No. 1 public institution in the northern region of the country by U.S. News & World Report, and is one of Kiplinger's Personal Finance's top educational values in the country. In 2006, the College joined an elite group of institutions when it was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Fewer than 10 percent of the nation's colleges and universities share this honor.
