SIUE Affinity Graduation Ceremonies Highlight the Importance of Belonging

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville commencement season began with five affinity graduation ceremonies of the following groups: Hispanic/Latin@/x, Black, Lavender, Asian, Asian American Pacific Islander, and Desi (AAPI/APIDA) and Non-Traditional. Students who were honored in front of family members, friends and administrators received signature stoles to wear at the main SIUE commencement ceremony.

A few members of the graduating cohort shared their SIUE Story.

Adnan Sadiq, MS Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, and an international student from Pakistan: "I was working in civil engineering in Pakistan. I was looking not only for an opportunity to get a degree but to do research work. I researched and found that SIUE is a top school for doing research work in civil engineering. I contacted an assistant professor, Dr. Saad Ullah and told him I wanted to improve my skills. He interviewed me and told me how I could flourish here."

Ricardo Lopez, BS Business Administration and Finance: "I love investment banking, and I have wanted to become an investment banker for a very long time, since I was a little kid. I just calculate everything on top of my head. My parents immigrated here from Mexico. They had nothing and didn't want me to follow in their footsteps. They would tell us, 'You have to be better than us.' And I fell in love with finance because I could earn money. I was like, okay, let me do this."

Maria Michelle Cartagena, BS Business Administration and Marketing with a minor in Spanish: "I had a couple of real struggles and I struggle in school specifically, because English is not my first language. A lot of people around me were like, 'Oh, you're not going to be in college,' but I wanted to prove them wrong. And so here I am at SIUE and ready to graduate."

Cartagena grew up in northern Illinois, separated from her brother who stayed behind in her family's home country of Honduras. She shares her advice to other undergraduates awaiting their graduation day. "Even though people try to push you down and you come from a family that's not united, don't let that hold you back. Keep pushing. It's going to pay off."

Ananya Alok, MA Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and an international student from India: "There is a crazy level of opportunities here, like campus recreation activities. There are events happening every few weeks. If you live on campus, housing has a lot of activities. There are a lot of clubs and other things you can be involved with, like the Indian Student Association."

Alok's acclimation to living so far from home came gradually and led to her career choice. "I did feel homesick when I first came to campus. If you leave your country and come all the way to the other side of the world, you will feel culture shock. And I did for a while. But counseling services were here and I utilized them the first semester when I needed it," said Alok.

"In the short term, I want to become a licensed therapist. In the long term, I want to serve my country. I plan to go back and start my own private practice and a non-profit organization, serving and helping women who undergo domestic violence. This has been a goal of mine since I started school."

Camryn Collins-Vaughn, BA Psychology with a minor in Sociology: "During my transfer from community college into the University I had a baby. She's now two years old. So just having her, I mean, that's always a challenge trying to balance schoolwork, being a full-time parent and working full-time. I've had a lot of support from professors, staff members in the counseling center, and just individuals and campus peers, constantly trying to hook up my confidence and just support me as a Black individual on campus who is also a parent."

As far as Collins-Vaugh's future plans, she said, "I got accepted to St. Louis University where I am going to do my master's in clinical mental health counseling. By the end of it, I'll be a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Missouri. This has been a dream since I was young."

Hanieh Ajami, MS Electrical and Computer Engineering, and an international student from Iran: "My dissertation focused on medical imaging using MRI of multiple sclerosis patients. We designed AI to diagnose multiple sclerosis. I was not a person to study medicine. I want to use my degree to help diagnose various diseases, like multiple sclerosis, brain tumors and more. It is a combination of engineering and medical field. So that is my dream in coming to SIUE."

Claudia Orteza, BS Business Administration, Economics: "SIUE was very reasonably priced and I love the nature out here. I feel like it was a really unique campus environment, you know, not too big and intimidating. It seemed very personable and like a strong community. This ceremony means a lot to me. I feel like especially being in Southern Illinois you can kind of fear that it's going to be a little more conservative down here. But I feel like this really warmed my heart and made me feel like I'm a really valued member of SIUE--not just as a student, but as a member of the LGBT community. It means a lot and makes me feel included for exactly who I am."

Olivia Perez, MA History, Museum Studies Certificate: "My goal in life was to work in the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. So as a master's student, I was really drawn to SIUE because of the museum studies where I had a really good on hands on experience with museum work--how to make exhibits, how to build the boxes, display things like labels, and even manage boards, with board members and rules."

"I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska. I mean, growing up, we don't have a lot of Hispanic representation in graduate schools or just in general in the country. I'm actually going on to do a PhD at Rutgers that's fully funded by the Steven Spielberg fellowship. So I'm very excited. It's nice to see other graduate students and other representation of Hispanic women. We celebrate it. I think it's so cool that we do this."

Tia Kimbrough, MSEd Higher Education Student Affairs, with a concentration on Athletics: "There are so many supportive people like the faculty, staff and the people in my cohort who have become close friends of mine. It's really been a good experience. You know, just coming here I was a little worried. Like, how are people going to accept me being nonbinary? How are they going to interact with me? But it's really been good."

Kimbrough's advice for students embarking on an SIUE journey is, "As quickly as possible just find your people. Then from there, you should be good."

The affinity graduation ceremonies were sponsored by the Kimmel Belonging and Engagement Hub, The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

PHOTOS: (top row) Asian, Asian American Pacific Islander, and Desi (AAPI/APIDA) graduates and Non-Traditional graduates; (middle row) Black graduates; (bottom row) Hispanic/Latin@/x graduates and Lavender graduates

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