As New Year's revelers welcomed 2008, the Monroe College community began a year-long toast to 75!

It was seventy-five years ago, in January of 1933 - during the worst part of the Great Depression - that visionary people with the foresight and conviction to follow their instincts created what has become Monroe College. 

From those humble beginnings of seven female students in the West Farms section of the Bronx seeking to better themselves and help their families survive in difficult times to the 7,000 students who pursue similar goals on modern Monroe College campuses in the Bronx, New Rochelle, and St. Lucia, the mission of providing professional, career-oriented higher education to students from diverse backgrounds has not changed.  Access and opportunity to motivated students who want to enrich their lives in a personalized and supportive environment is what has given Monroe College its distinction through these many decades.

"Today we can take pride in all we do to help change people's lives for the better," said President Stephen Jerome as he welcomed staff and faculty to the college's Diamond Jubilee year. "We have continued to maintain the standards set forth by founders Mildred King and my father Harry Jerome and have taken the Monroe culture to a new level."

That new level was on display on Tuesday, January 8 as the President and the Monroe faculty greeted freshman in the Winter, 2008 semester with all the Pomp and Circumstance of the traditional college Matriculation Ceremony.

"Stay ahead in your work," President Jerome urged Monroe's new students.  "You can achieve your goals if you don't put things off for another time.  Your future is now."

Those are the kinds of forward-thinking concepts that have helped keep Monroe strong for 75 years!  Happy Anniversary!