Kermena Yousif will be speaking at this year’s commencement ceremony along with four other students: Ana Lugo, Thai Hilton, Kieleigh Calcagno and Tanya Ruys-Balk. Yousif will be speaking at the Science & Technology and Business & Economics ceremony, Hilton and Lugo at the School of Social Sciences ceremony and Calcango and Ruys-Balk at the School of Arts & Humanities and Education ceremony. 

As they take to the podium, each will share their experiences as students at SSU. 

Yousif said she aims to inspire her fellow graduates with her speech. “I hope that they don’t feel like this is the end, I want them to feel like this is the first solid step in the direction of their future,” Yousif said. 

Yousif, who graduated with her B.S. in kinesiology last fall, said that if she could give advice to current students, it would be to not treat their experience in college as transactional. She also stressed the importance of communicating with your professors. “There are so many opportunities out there beyond just class material,” Yousif said. 

She said professors Poram Choi and Lauren Morimoto helped shape her college experience through their support and encouragement. “If there’s a manual for how to be a professor, they tossed it and went above and beyond,” Yousif said. 

Yousif is currently enrolled in a graduate program at Northern Arizona University. 

Thai Hilton, who will be graduating with his masters in public administration, said that his advice to younger students would be to “study what you’re interested in and not worry about knowing exactly what your career will be.”

 “I’m happy with the work I do now, and my masters degree is going to be very helpful with that, but it took me a while to figure that out, and that’s okay,” Hilton said. 

Hilton said that the overall theme of his speech is that of optimism. “I do think that we can, as a society, overcome some of these wicked problems that we have through hard work and collaboration,” Hilton said. 

Hilton currently works with the homeless population in Sonoma County. His goal after graduation is to continue to work with the hope of affecting higher-level change. 

Tanya Ruys-Balk will be graduating with her masters in education, which will be the third master’s degree she’s received from SSU. 

Ruys-Balk said she plans to discuss resilience and the importance of showing up in her speech. “As a Deaf student in a predominantly hearing college, I’ve faced numerous negative encounters where my deafness led to feelings of unwelcome or rejection. These experiences of audism have only strengthened my resolve to succeed,” Ruys-Balk said. “We all deserve a fair chance in life—it’s about more than just surviving; it’s about thriving. And I am determined to do more than survive; I aim to thrive.”

Although she said that she is nervous to give a speech in ASL to a hearing audience, Ruys-Balk says she hopes her appearance at commencement will give recognition to the Deaf community. 

Ruys-Balk currently works as a disability specialist for Deaf and hard of hearing students at Santa Rosa Junior College. She hopes to eventually teach Deaf education courses at the college level. 

This year’s commencement ceremony will be held at the Green Music Center on Saturday, May 18. The School of Social Sciences ceremony will take place at 9 a.m., the School of Arts & Humanities and School of Education ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. and the School of Business & Economics and School of Science & Technology ceremony will take place at 5 p.m.