Outstanding Graduates Honored for Accomplishments
4/28/2020
The eight Palm Beach Atlantic University schools presenting undergraduate degrees will give special recognition to their Outstanding Graduates during Saturday’s spring commencement.
Talia Fradkin, from Wellington, Florida, is the outstanding graduate in the School of Arts and Sciences. She earned a 4.0 GPA as pre-health/biology major. She will go on to medical school,
already having been accepted by medical programs at six universities. According to
a professor who taught her in a number of honors courses, she just as easily may have
enrolled in a graduate program in literature or philosophy. Last year, Fradkin volunteered
in the Labor and Delivery Unit of Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
She has collaborated with two faculty members on research projects and given presentations
at the PBA Interdisciplinary Research Conference on three occasions.
From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bria Parks is the outstanding graduate of the School of Ministry. She is an intercultural studies major and has led two of PBA’s Middle East mission
trips. Faculty described her as conscientious and dependable, a person who brings
unity and encouragement to a team, and who impacts other students’ faith journeys.
In Palm Beach County, she has served a local Syrian refugee family, building relationships
with them and teaching them English. In the future, Parks would like to move overseas
to work with refugee communities.
Future teacher Rebekah Salowitz is the outstanding graduate of the School of Education and Behavioral Studies. She was president of Kappa Delta Epsilon, the education honor society. While serving
as a Workship leader, she singlehandedly established an after-school tutoring program
for students in a challenging section of the county. Every week for three years, she
drove volunteers there to work with students. Salowitz did her second teaching residency
in Madrid, Spain, where the program director said her calling to teach “is evident
in her smile, her care for others and in the positive relationships she builds with
those around her.” She is from Sycamore, Illinois.
Eva Bracciale is the outstanding graduate of the Rinker School of Business. A native of West Palm Beach, she has a double major in marketing and accounting,
with a concentration in franchise marketing from the Titus Center for Franchising. Since her freshman year, she has been involved with PBA’s collegiate chapter of
the American Marketing Association, and she was chapter president in her junior and
senior years. For 13 years, she served at the Royal Palm Beach campus of Christ Fellowship,
teaching and leading worship in children’s ministry, managing social media accounts
for children’s ministry and special events and participating in mission trips and
leadership conferences.
From the Orlando Campus, Dorian M. Williams is the outstanding graduate of the MacArthur School of Leadership. He is regional program coordinator for a national non-profit organization that specializes
in youth development programs in Orlando. He and his wife, Karen, have two children,
ages 12 and 17. They live in Ocee, Florida. Feeling that God called him to be a leader
not only in his home and workplace, but also in ministry, he serves as a minister
at The Kingdom Church in Orlando, under the leadership of Pastor David S. Jacques.
Williams’ degree is in organizational leadership.
Cayla Metzger is the outstanding graduate in the School of Music and Fine Arts. Hailing from North Carolina, she has a double major in music and public relations.
Highlights of her time at PBA include being selected to the Florida All-State Intercollegiate
Band for three consecutive years, winning the PBA Symphony Concerto Competition and
participating in a variety of ensembles, including the PBA Symphony, Symphonic Band,
Early Music Ensemble, Irish Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble and Pep Band. This fall, she
will begin her Master of Music degree at Purchase College, State University of New York. There she will serve as the graduate assistant for the flute studio and the director of Classical
Studies.
With a GPA of 4.0, Mireya Hinojosa is the outstanding graduate in the School of Nursing. Despite her rigorous course load and working part-time, she consistently volunteered
to help others, including tutoring and mentoring other nursing students. She spent
many summer and school break/holiday hours working as the patient care supervisor
for Abode, a not-for profit organization in San Antonio, Texas, where she provided
supportive and compassionate care for patients at the end of life. She is from McAllen,
Texas. Hinojosa will take her nursing boards in June, and she has received a job offer
as a critical care and trauma intern for the Parkland Health & Hospital System in
Dallas, Texas.
Ashley Allen, the outstanding graduate of the School of Communication and Media, is from Tampa, Florida. She is a communication major with a journalism minor, and
was editor-in-chief of the student publication The Beacon. She spent last summer writing for The New York Post as an editorial page intern,
and hopes to go back to work in New York City. Her ultimate goal is to become a print-focused
foreign or war correspondent. She has twice traveled to South America on PBA mission
trips and written about those experiences.
Photo 1: Talia Fradkin is the outstanding graduate in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Photo 2: Bria Parks is the outstanding graduate from the School of Ministry.
Photo 3: Rebekah Salowitz is the outstanding graduate from the School of Education & Behavioral Studies.
Photo 4: Eva Bracciale is the outstanding graduate from the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. School of Business.
Photo 5: Dorian Williams is the outstanding graduate from the MacArthur School of Leadership.
Photo 6: Cayla Metzger is the outstanding graduate from the School of Music and Fine Arts.
Photo 7: Mireya Hinojosa is the outstanding graduate from the School of Nursing.
Photo 8: Ashley Allen is the outstanding graduate from the School of Communication & Media.