{"id":206408,"date":"2026-05-30T18:26:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T18:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/206408\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T18:26:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T18:26:22","slug":"red-banks-samantha-sercia-receives-doctor-of-physical-therapy-degree-from-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/206408\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bank’s Samantha Sercia receives Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"

RED BANK \u2014 Samantha P. Sercia of Red Bank was among the more than 450 students at Scranton University who received a master’s or doctoral degree at the school’s graduate commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026. <\/p>\n

Graduates received their diplomas Sunday, May 24, at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township. Graduates must have completed their academic requirements between August 2025 and May 2026.<\/p>\n

(This story is continued under the ad)

<\/a> Sercia earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in physical therapy from The University of Scranton.<\/p>\n

Graduates spanned 22 states from throughout the U.S., including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee with a large concentration from the East Coast. Pennsylvania was the most populous state among the graduates at 48 percent, followed by New Jersey and New York at about 15 percent each. International graduates hailed from Canada, India and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Karen L. Pennington, Ph.D. ’76, G’83, H’15, who spoke earlier in the day at the undergraduate commencement ceremony, addressed the graduate crowd, as well.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pennington, a former higher education administrator, was also in town to celebrate her 50-year class reunion.<\/p>\n

(This story is continued under the ad)

<\/a> “You have a chance to use this gift of education, this special status you achieved, as the launching pad to be more than you were before,” Dr. Pennington said. “Take all you have learned about managing time – past, present and future – to carry the lessons of organization, respect and kindness with you, as you commit to taking the actions necessary to achieve all of your goals.<\/p>\n

“What does it mean to have a degree from The University of Scranton? You soon will know, because you have reached the end of this part of your Scranton journey … I say it’s just ‘this part,’ because what it means to have a degree from The University of Scranton is more than a piece of paper to hang on your wall. It is knowing that you are part of a larger community, not just while in class but for long after.”<\/p>\n

Among the degrees awarded were Masters of Accountancy, Business Administration, Health Administration, Science and Science in Nursing; as well as Doctors of Nursing Practice, Occupational Therapy, Philosophy and Physical Therapy.<\/p>\n

The University of Scranton is a Jesuit university located in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RED BANK \u2014 Samantha P. Sercia of Red Bank was among the more than 450 students at Scranton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[90784,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-206408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-red-bank-samantha-p-sercia-of-red-bank-was-among-the-more-than-450-students-at-scranton-university-who-received-a-master","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}