Paloma’s story is one of resilience, growth, and passion for her field. From navigating academic challenges to speaking at commencement, her journey is an inspiring testament to determination and the transformative power of education.

Paloma chose to major in English driven by her lifelong love of literature. “It’s an art form, and the expression of art is what makes us human. ” She reflects that literature is “a universal way to connect with those before and after us and I think it is such a privilege and I am grateful that I get to study it.”

A turning point in her university experience came during an English Initiatives meeting in October 2023. Having met some of her best friends and closest mentors through the department initiatives, Paloma marks her involvement as a clear pivot point. “I felt like my life at Montclair changed direction for the better.”

Among her proudest accomplishments is her role as the 2025 commencement speaker—a full-circle moment in her academic career. Having started at Montclair on academic probation, the transformation is hard to put into words. For Paloma, it’s proof that you can rise after a fall. “It is one of the most impactful and proud moments of my time at Montclair State,” she says.

Paloma attributes much of her success to the invaluable guidance of key faculty members who profoundly impacted her academic journey and personal growth.

• , associate professor and advisor for the English Club, supported Paloma throughout her time at Montclair State. She credits him with being a hands-on mentor who guided her in co-founding the English Club and provided numerous opportunities for growth. For Paloma, Dr. Gonzalez stood out as a role model in academia and a constant source of support.
• was instrumental in helping Paloma rebuild her confidence after academic probation. He encouraged her to apply for English awards and his classes left a lasting impact on her academic perspective. Paloma shares, “Dr. Miller taught me what it meant to be a reader and a scholar, and I view the world differently after his classes.”
• provided Paloma with a transformative and full-circle experience. During her freshman year, Paloma struggled in one of Dr. Nicosia’s classes, an experience that stayed with her for years. In her final semester, Paloma enrolled in a master class with Dr. Nicosia, where she was given the opportunity to research for Dr. Nicosia on an upcoming project and receive guidance for post-undergraduate programs and master’s options.

Paloma Lupino (center) celebrates with Professors Jeffrey Gonzalez and Laura Nicosia before the Commencement Ceremony.

These professors not only imparted academic knowledge but also provided the mentorship and encouragement that Paloma says were crucial to her personal and academic growth. “I absolutely would not be the student I am today without the support and guidance of professors like these,” she reflects, adding that she is deeply grateful for their impact on her Montclair journey.

During her time at Montclair, Paloma also served as the president of the English Club, creating a space for students to engage with literature beyond the classroom. She balanced the academic and fun sides of English as a co-host of , the university’s first student-run podcast. Through this project, Paloma and fellow students explored topics ranging from Beowulf to book-to-movie adaptations, offering lively discussions that appealed to both casual readers and literature enthusiasts. Additionally, Paloma brought her energy and creativity to , a student-produced talk show streaming on Hawk+. These experiences helped her foster community within the English department and hone her skills in collaboration, leadership, and communication.

Paloma Lupino recorded episodes of the Playne English podcast in the WMSC Studios.

To current and future English students, Paloma offers words of encouragement: “Getting a degree is difficult, and most of us don’t finish the degree on a straight path. Life throws you curve balls and obstacles that we need to juggle on top of being students. Embrace the journey, trust in yourself, and don’t forget to celebrate your progress.”

Looking ahead, Paloma hopes to continue her education through graduate and doctoral studies, with aspirations to work in academia. “Montclair really showed me that you can come back from anything if you work hard enough, and believe that you can. Some of the best and most life-changing opportunities are out there… all you need to do is go out and find them.”

Congratulations to Paloma Lupino and the Class of 2025!

Dekens’ paper, “Aesthetic Transgressions in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” analyzed the way that societal “othering” of individuals as depicted in the novel has evolved and changed in light of shifting cultural and social landscapes. He focused particularly on the way that images (in films and satires, for example) are used to diminish the linguistic and intellectual value of subjugated groups or individuals. Sturm’s paper, “Shelley’s Feminine Nexus in Frankenstein,” argued that Shelley feminizes the biologically male creature in order to create a gothic dramatization of her own tragedies. She showed how by surrounding the creature with feminine symbolism while manifesting feminine archetypes within him, Shelley creates a creature that personifies her torment in an androgynous frame.

Dekens and Sturm wrote their essays for Professor Patricia Matthew’s ENGL110 class. Students in the course spent the entire semester focused on Frankenstein and its reception from its publication in 1818 to today, reading traditional critical and theoretical interpretations, listening to short reflections on the novel by faculty across the arts and sciences, and reading modern essays that interpret the novel in light of questions about race and revolution.  For their final projects, students experimented with the best way to present their work. Some wrote traditional research papers, others compiled videos with accompanying essays, and several students shared oral presentations.

ENGL110 Introduction to Literature: The Analytic Essay is one of the English Department’s new courses, and Professor Matthew wanted to experiment with course content (focusing on a single, major text and figure for a whole semester) and learn how students want to write today, often outside of the traditional college essay structure.  Although Dekens and Sturm opted to write more traditional research papers, both of their essays approached the novel with an eye towards how it resonates in current cultural debates.

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Excerpts from our students’ personal statements

Sarah Dimichino

“After I switched majors from music to English…writing ceased to be just a personal outlet and became a way by which I could organize, distill and share arguments about what I was reading. It has been difficult but at times revelatory. It is now impossible for me to be a passive reader or lazy writer and I have learned to see context in everything—news articles, novels, advertisements—that is now impossible for me to ignore. It reminds me of being a piano technician, in a way: once you know what ‘perfectly in tune’ sounds like, you begin to hear disharmony everywhere.”

Jessica D’Onofrio

“Learning does not just happen in Dickson Hall, it happens outside of it as well when a group of my classmates and I, still buzzing with ideas and opinions and observations not shared in class, spend forty-five minutes in the cold discussing Stevie Smith’s “Not Waving but Drowning.” Learning happens in Car Parc Diem at 7:05AM when a friend and I talk about the ways in which disability is framed in the X-Men universe, and in the parking lot of my apartment building at 7:45PM when another friend and I unpack how everything we know or think we know is constructed by the lenses of our own experiences…These moments are as much a reflection of my career as a student as my GPA might be and are proof that while being a college student is transitory, the culture of questioning and engaging critically with both literature and the world around me that is fostered by this department and its professors have turned me into a lifelong student and learner.“

Alexis Grainger

“After high school, I carried my iconoclastic viewpoints with me to college English courses, where I was allowed to openly express my findings and opinions in a more liberal academic setting. As a first semester transfer student in the English program at ����vlog, I have not yet had the opportunity to take many English courses; however, the courses I am currently taking have broadened my scope of literature, sharpened my critical thinking, and fine-tuned my essay-writing skills. From my perspective, ����vlog’s English program has redefined what it means to be a student, a reader, and a writer.“