Watch this Video: The sights and sounds from Spring Commencement 2023
The University of Wisconsin, Green Bay celebrates its 50,000th graduate and a spring graduating class comprised of more than 50% First Generation students. Graduates and their families celebrate the 2023 Spring Commencement, Saturday, May 13, 2023 in two ceremonies at the Kress Events Center, located on the UW-Green Bay campus. https://www.uwgb.edu
Transcript: To be graduating (on this) day is quite an honor, I graduated last year from Green Bay with my undergrad and this year I was able to finish my Master’s so it’s great to have that. I’m just gonna try every day to be the best leader that I can, help shape the new generation coming up if I’m going to be a teacher if I’m going to be a coach. It was very hard. I’m a first-generation student. I work full-time. It was a very hard decision to go back to school but I wanted to open up new doors for myself and UWGB provided me that opportunity to work around my schedule. Everything is very surreal right now because you sit and prep for all this time waiting for this anticipation and like this moment in this day and then it shows up and it’s like oh well that’s kind of exciting. It feels really good graduating today. I’ve been working really hard the past four years and I’m gonna go home and I’m gonna sleep for a whole week. I’m proud to be a UWGB Phoenix. I think we’re underrated in a way. You can make the most of it but it’s what you do to make the most of it. Because UWGB has changed me for sure. Academically, I was very challenged. I had seemingly every odd against me. I came into Green Bay and I wasn’t even sure I was going to stick around. I felt like dropping out. Um, but then my professors came to me they encouraged me to go and do success coaching through the Learning Center. Um, and I got tutors and I did everything possible in order to be standing here today and walking across that stage so I can make my family proud. My ultimate dream is to either complete my master’s which I am going to get my masters in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education at Ball State. Or I want to get my doctorate and eventually teach at a Collegiate level. But right now, working in student affairs at a Collegiate level is the passion and the dream for me. It’s the final installment of all my hard work and I’m going to be able to take the experience at Green Bay to find a workplace that I feel that I’m making a contributal difference in. You know I really want to make so that like I’m leaving a positive lasting imprint on you know everyone. I think it’s such an honor to be the first person to graduate from my family and I feel like I’m making my parents very proud by graduating today. After graduating, I’m hoping to pursue my Professional Geologist License. I would say my dream job is working with volcanoes and testing the igneous rock that comes from that. My Ultimate Dream would become a lawyer. Um I am graduating today with my associate’s however I’ve been working towards my bachelor so in the next year and a half I plan to get my bachelor’s and then at that point move on to law school. And I really want to go into social justice so that I can help, help the world get a little bit better.
