John Penola ’07 of Boonton, New Jersey delivered the graduate student address for the William Paterson Class of 2021 virtual commencement ceremony on May 14.
Penola graduated with a master of fine arts degree in creative and professional writing. He was selected as speaker from among the highest-achieving graduates in the College of the Arts and Communication. Beginning last year, undergraduate and graduate commencement speakers rotate through the University’s colleges.
A 2007 graduate of William Paterson University with a bachelor of arts degree in English, magna cum laude, Penola also completed the University’s Performing and Literary Arts Honors Track and received the Department of English Excellence in Writing Award for his poetry thesis, The Spire.
He has been teaching English and language arts in Kinnelon since 2007, first at Pearl R. Miller Middle School and, since 2011, at Kinnelon High School, where he developed the creative writing program and was named Kinnelon High School Teacher of the Year in 2017. He also holds a Master of Educational Instruction from The College of New Jersey.
For his MFA thesis, Penola has written a poetic memoir titled Be Right Back, in which he remixes and juxtaposes memories to find new meaning in them. In addition to teaching and writing, he composes ambient music and soundtracks under his own name and performs electronic rock under the moniker of Maybe Bomb.
“We have all learned so much in this past year, in and out of the classroom—perhaps nothing more deeply than this idea that our plans—our best laid plans—rarely work out the way we wanted them to,” says Penola.
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