As the United States continues to honor its semiquincentennial birthday with gatherings across the county, Raritan Valley Community College celebrated its own “250” milestone on July 7 with a special event at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater. Called “The Big 250,” the evening showcased students, faculty and staff, and culminated with the generosity of four organizations whose combined donations to RVCC totaled $250,000.
The celebration also brought attention to some of RVCC’s critical programs and departments, which were showed on the Concourse level, with staff members and materials promoting the Planetarium, Athletics, Admissions, Financial Aid/Advising, the Theatre, the Alumni Association, Workforce Training, and the Children’s Campus Preschool and Childcare Center.
“Celebrating ‘The Big 250’ at TD Bank Ballpark offered a terrific opportunity to highlight all that RVCC offers the community and showcase our talented students, faculty, and staff,” said RVCC President Dr. Michael J. McDonough. “We are thankful for everyone who attended the event to show their support for the College, and especially the generous gifts from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, the Somerset Hills Community Health Foundation, Sanofi, and All Within My Hands for the Metallica Scholars Initiative—whose combined gifts got us to the $250,000 mark.”
In addition, the event inspired the creation of “The Big 250 Scholarship at RVCC”—which was established from proceeds from ticket sales and the generous support of the RVCC Foundation Board of Directors. The scholarship will be awarded to a deserving RVCC student this fall.
Members of the RVCC community were featured prominently in the pre-game festivities, which were hosted by Dr. Frank Forte, RVCC Associate Professor of Mathematics and Faculty Liaison to the Honors College. The activities included a unique version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” performed by Jeremy Sweet, Adjunct Professor of Music, who was joined by two RVCC Class of 2026 students: Applied Music grad, Sydni Fields, on bass, and Music Performance grad, Christian Sergile, on drums.
The game’s first pitch was thrown out by Kelsey Butler, a Sport Management major who is the starting centerfielder and captain of RVCC’s Women’s Softball team. The National Anthem was sung by Cynthia Dimarco (Class of 2027), an Applied Music major at RVCC.
The highlight of the pre-game festivities included on-field check presentations with four exceptional supporters of RVCC. The presentations featured Donna Castronovo, Vice President of the Hospital Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset ($18,000); Lesley Hetherington, Board Chair, Somerset Hills Community Health Foundation, joined by fellow board members, Evelyn Prather and Peter Mercer ($75,000); Diana Blankman, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sanofi US, and President, Sanofi Cares North America ($82,000). The check-presentation ceremony also offered the opportunity to announce RVCC’s new support from All Within My Hands (AWMH), the non-profit, philanthropic organization created by the members and management of Metallica, to train students in the Aseptic Processing program at the College’s Workforce Training Center ($75,000). RVCC has been selected as one of 18 new schools joining the prestigious Metallica Scholars Initiative (MSI).
During the pregame event, Dr. Forte also highlighted several 2025-2026 award winners among RVCC’s faculty, staff, and alumni, including: Fulltime Faculty Excellence in Teaching Honoree, Professor Derek Weber, Professor of Microbiology; Fulltime Support Staff Presidential Award Honoree, Martha Salas, Molecular Biology Lab Assistant III, Science & Engineering department; and the Fulltime Administrator Presidential Award Honoree, Dr. Rikita Singh, Executive Director of the Office of Student Support. Other award winners announced included Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Honorees, Roger Shutack, Humanities, Social Sciences, Social Work and Education department; Nina Presuto, English department; and Jamie Parmese, English department. The 2025-26 Distinguished Alumni Honorees highlighted during the event included Jenna Douglas (Class of 2017), Stephanie Spies (Class of 2014), and Leilani Rose (Class of 2019).
