Photos by Dan Moore, University Photographer
James Harris is the 2025 Student Commencement Speaker for the 9:30 a.m. ceremony on Saturday, December 13, 2025.
College is often described as a journey, but for James Harris, a mountain climb may be more accurate. He arrived at UW-Green Bay unsure of his footing or his future. “I didn’t take the straight route here,” he says, “but I learned more about myself—and the world—because of it.” With support from mentors and classmates who recognized his potential, he began finding the footholds that would lift him higher.
His progress speaks for itself. Harris is graduating with a 4.0 GPA, a Democracy and Justice Studies (DJS) degree, a TEDx talk, and an exceptional record of undergraduate research—ranging from an independent study on colonial social control mechanisms, to co-authored work in the Political Science Research Lab analyzing support for conspiracy theories, to a senior capstone project on the philosophy of equitable education that he presented at UWGB’s Academic Excellence Symposium. Faculty describe him as “a rare blend of intellectual rigor, compassion, and civic purpose.”
Faculty who have written nominations on his behalf often remark on the pace of his growth—how, once given space to thrive, he rose with confidence and brought depth, humility and a steady, thoughtful curiosity to every academic setting.
From Homeschooling and Hardship to Academic Excellence
Those accomplishments take on deeper meaning when set against the challenges of his upbringing. Harris grew up in a homeschooled household largely closed off from mainstream culture. With no cable, internet or news, the family’s world centered on a small collection of homemade instructional tapes. “I was isolated in homeschooling,” he recalls. “I had no social skills. I didn’t understand how to interact with people.”
His father’s worldview—firm, skeptical of outside influence and shaped by deeply held convictions—meant the family’s engagement with the broader world was limited. As Harris grew older, those boundaries became something he had to navigate consciously, learning to seek out perspectives beyond the ones he’d been raised with. “It wasn’t that my dad was trying to be harsh,” he says. “He just saw the world a certain way, and I was raised inside that perspective. As I got older, I realized I wanted to understand more than one way of seeing things. That became a big motivator for me.”
Turning Setbacks into Strength: A Journey Through Adversity and Resilience
When Harris eventually entered a small public school, the shift was overwhelming. After years of isolation and structure, he found himself unprepared for the noise, pace and expectations of a traditional classroom. “It was like jumping into a moving river,” he says. “I didn’t know how to swim, and I made a lot of bad choices trying to stay afloat.”
Marrying young and becoming a father before he felt ready added pressure to an already uncertain path. The burden of supporting a family while trying to make sense of an unfamiliar world intensified the instability, eventually leading to jail. Harris speaks of that experience not with shame but with clarity. It was, he says, “the moment where I had to decide if I wanted to keep living the life I was handed or start building one I chose.”
How Democracy and Justice Studies Sparked Transformation
After his release, he rebuilt with intention. Working factory jobs helped him regain direction. Surrounded by production lines and industrial machinery, he discovered a place where effort translated into trust. “It was the first place I felt like I could do something well,” he says. “I showed up, worked hard and people trusted me.” That reliability awakened something deeper: a curiosity not just about how the machines worked, but about the systems and people behind them.
Technical college revealed a natural aptitude for mathematics and problem-solving. For the first time, school made sense. Yet even as he succeeded, he sensed he was meant for something more. “I realized I didn’t just want to understand machines—I wanted to understand people, systems, the bigger picture.”
He first enrolled at UW-Green Bay to pursue mechanical engineering – a practical, stable path. But a required Democracy and Justice Studies elective changed everything. What he expected to be just another class instead offered a way to understand the world he came from and the communities he wanted to help shape. “Engineering taught me how systems work,” Harris says. “DJS taught me why people and systems behave the way they do.”
Once he declared his major, Harris excelled in ways that surprised even him. His academic precision, dialogue-driven mindset and ability to engage divergent perspectives made him a standout in classrooms, research labs and public forums. His accomplishments span more than 20 major contributions in research, leadership and civic engagement—from national conferences and Model EU participation to organizing a major policy panel on conversion therapy. As a TEDx speaker, he delivered “From Extremist to Activist,” illuminating his transformation with clarity and conviction.
His work in civic engagement drew praise across campus. Ashley Heath, director of UW-Green Bay’s Center for Civic Engagement, notes, “James isn’t just involved—he’s deeply invested in making change and he brings others along with him.” His leadership extended into Bridging the Divide, where he helped facilitate conversations among students with widely differing viewpoints—listening without judgment and challenging without hostility.
Looking Ahead: Policy, Advocacy and Inspiring the Next Generation
As graduation nears, Harris plans to continue his education and pursue work in public policy, communication or community advocacy. He hopes to reach anyone who has doubted their place in higher education. “The hardest days are usually the ones that teach you the most,” he says. “College isn’t about perfection—it’s about showing up and choosing who you want to become.”
For a student who once feared he’d never find direction, the momentum is unmistakable—and his path forward is unmistakably upward.