GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY's Jeannette Bayardelle Named Hunter College's Commencement Speaker

Tony Award nominee Jeannette Bayardelle will be Hunter College's commencement speaker this Friday at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn. Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her work as Mrs. Neilsen in Girl From North Country, Jeannette is an alumna of Hunter College of the City University of New York, Class of 2002.

According to Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab, Jeannette was a Medical Lab Science major. Her professors knew her as a conscientious, hard-working student who spent a lot of her time in the lab. After graduation, she decided to follow another of her passions - singing and acting. She auditioned for her first Broadway musical and landed the lead role of Celie in The Color Purple. Hunter College was fortunate to have Jeannette return to the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2007, where she not only sang for the audience but received an Outstanding Alumni Award.

"It is an incredible privilege to have been asked to deliver the commencement address at Hunter College for the class of 2022. The education I obtained at Hunter is primarily responsible for the success I've had as an artist," said Jeannette Bayardelle.