A Trailblazing Honor Graduate’s Inspiring Story
Nyree Oliver overcame incredible odds to become a graduating senior who belongs to four honor societies. She shared her story with donors who helped to make her Rutgers education possible, telling them, “Thank you for being the reason lives like mine are forever changed.”
Graduating senior Nyree Oliver stepped up to the podium at the Rutgers University–Camden scholarship reception to tell her story and took a deep breath.
“My life’s hardest journey began in a children’s homeless shelter,” she said.
Before she finished at Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Burlington County in 2015 and found her way to community college, Oliver said she moved “through foster homes that came and went like passing storms, through poverty and stability, abuse, and other battles, which no child should ever have to face.”
Through it all, she told the crowd of more than 120 donors, faculty members, and fellow students and scholarship recipients gathered in the Rutgers–Camden Campus Center, that “I found my way forward—to this very place on this very stage, standing in front of people who chose to give, who chose to believe, and who chose to help make sure that stories like mine are possible.”
Oliver, a mother of a 6-year old daughter, holds an associate’s degree from Camden County College and has worked as a medical coder for Cooper University Hospital in Camden for the past eight years. She is graduating this month with a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Rutgers School of Business–Camden and will continue working on her MBA through the school’s accelerated degree program. She hopes to one day own her own multidisciplinary coding firm.
Oliver, who last year became the first Rutgers student to receive the Ivory Bridges Foundation Fellowship, has benefitted from Rutgers–Camden’s TRiO Student Support Services and other programs for students that receive donor funds.
“Tonight is about honoring you guys, the donors, not just to thank you for what you've actually given us, but to show you what your generosity will truly create,” she said. “It creates someone like me—a first-generation student, a leader, a mentor, and a member of four honor societies.” (Those honor societies include the Delta Alpha Phi Honor Society, of which she is president; Tri Alpha Honor Society, of which she is vice president; and Athenaeum.)
She said her accomplishments are not unique at Rutgers–Camden. “Every recipient and student you guys see in here tonight has their own story of resilience, brilliance, and purpose,” Oliver said.
Oliver told the audience that she often describes life as being like the family card game UNO. “None of us get to choose the cards that were dealt,” she said. “Some of us are handed skip cards that slow us down before we even get the chance to be born. Others get reverse cards that force us to start all over again and start new paths of life.”
She then drew a metaphor for donors in the game. “These scholarships that you guys have given us, those are our wild cards. They changed the direction of the game, and they gave us a chance to rewrite our outcome.”
Donors’ gifts are more than money, she said. “Your generosity didn't just give me financial support. It gave every recipient in here, including me, something far more valuable—belief. Belief before the achievements. Belief before the recognition. Belief before there was proof. That kind of belief changes everything.”
She said gifts to programs supporting first-generation students resonate in many ways. “Because of you,” she told donors, “we’re not just building futures. We’re breaking these generational curses and cycles. We’re creating access, and we’re leaving footprints in the sand for those who come after us.
“So when you look around this room this evening, you’re not just looking at students. You’re looking at the future executives—the entrepreneurs, the leaders, the innovators of this world, people who will create opportunities. They’ll strengthen the community and they’ll open doors for others, just like how you guys have opened doors for me and the recipients here tonight.”
Oliver closed her comments, which lasted a mere six minutes at the March 31 evening scholarship reception, to a standing ovation. “Your generosity goes beyond the funding of education,” she said. “It funds competence, leadership, transformation, and most importantly, it funds responsibilities. So thank you for believing in us before success was even visible, and thank you for investing in us as people and not just potential. Thank you for being the reason lives like mine are forever changed.”
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