Sixteen-Year-Old William Paterson University Student Graduates

Hoda Bastani of Montville, just a few days past her 16th birthday, became one of William Paterson University’s youngest graduates when she received a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University’s commencement ceremony on May 21 at 10:30 a.m. on Wightman Field on campus.

She earned a 4.0 grade point average, and was selected to carry the banner for the College of Science and Health during commencement, an honor given only to the highest-achieving graduates. She was named to the dean’s list and the national dean’s list and received the University’s Arnold and Myrna Speert Scholarship and Presidential Scholarship.

College graduation is just the latest accomplishment for this young woman, another step toward her future goal of becoming a physician. Bastani is currently applying to medical schools and hopes to specialize in neurology, a discipline she became interested in while taking a class in neuroscience at William Paterson. But she wants to keep an open mind, realizing that medical school might reveal other interests.

Encouraged and supported by her parents who immigrated to this country from Iran when she was just one year old, Bastani, who was home-schooled in the first and third grades, excelled at academics from a very young age. She entered County College of Morris directly from the eighth grade and earned an associate’s degree in chemistry before enrolling at William Paterson two years ago.

Since she is too young to drive, her parents or her older sister drove her to school each day. She says her classmates often didn’t realize how young she is, but she is accustomed to being with people of all ages at her mosque where she teaches a class in religious studies.

In addition to her studies on campus, she formed the Muslim Students Association and served as its first president. She was a member of the Galen Society, a preprofessional club for students interested in the health sciences, and the Pathways to Academic Success in the Sciences (PASS) Program, which provides hands-on training and research experiences for undergraduate minority students. Bastani also worked as a tutor at the Science Enrichment Center.

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5/17/02
For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966