Oh say can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, oe'r the ramparts we watched, were so galantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursing in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave Oe'r the land of the free and the home of the brave? Good afternoon. I am Shane Martin, Provost of Seattle University. On behalf of President Stephen Sundborg, the Seattle University Board of trustees, the Board of Regents, The alumni Board of Governors, officers of the university, members of the faculty, staff and administration, I welcome you to our virtual commencement. The ceremony comes at a time like no other. And as disappointed as we are to be unable to gather in person. We are joyous and eager to celebrate the accomplishments of this extraordinarily resilient group of graduates. First and foremost, congratulations to you our graduates. My colleagues and I salute you on your achievements and commend you for your patience and fortitude throughout the last year. I also want to express deep gratitude to the parents, family members, spouses, significant others and friends of our graduates. A commencement ceremony is an affirmation of the many contributions and sacrifices that all of you have made over the years to support your loved ones. As they have worked hard to reach this important milestone. I want to thank my faculty and staff colleagues for the excellence of their work in educating and supporting our students and each other. Our festivities this afternoon began with this university ceremony. To be followed by separate ceremonies for each school and college, where students will be recognized by name and also for the class of 2020. We open now with an invocation offered by Professor Natasha Martin. Seattle University's Chief Diversity officer and vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. As we begin this commencement ceremony, I invite us all to respectfully acknowledge that our campus is on occupied Coast Salish land, specifically, the homelands of the Doamish people. To acknowledge this land is to recognize the history and legacy of settler colonialism. It is to recognize these lands waters and their significance for the peoples who have thrived in this region despite the consequences of displacement and broken treaties. We pay our respect to Coast Salish elders past and present, and extend that respect to their descendants and to all indigenous people. Today we recognize the history of colonialism and slavery in the United States. We acknowledge that African slavery came to the Pacific Northwest in its earliest stages and contributed to our political and cultural landscape. We acknowledge the grave harm that colonialism brought to these lands. The erasure of African identities that this nation was built and prospered through a brutal system of owning other human beings as property and exploiting their labor for nearly 250 years. We honor the African ancestors and their descendants and all of those who sacrificed for abolition and freedom. We proclaim that black lives matter. As we gather today, we pause with open hearts. For the children and families who crossed the southern border looking for a better future, the families separated by immigration policies the asylum seekers, the multitude of refugees, the migrant workers in our own Washington state and beyond, whose work brings the fruits of the field and the vine to our tables. And the immigrants and the undocumented, whose gifts enrich our land and our lives. We acknowledge and recognize the painful history of the land that our campus occupies as once belonging to Japanese Americans who, by a presidential executive order just 79 years ago in 1942, every man, woman, and child of the Japanese American community was rounded up and forced to live behind barbed wire in an American concentration camp. In Idaho. Today we recognize this wrongful act against an entire community simply guilty because of their race, and we honor the space that once was home to a vibrant neighborhood, and this immigrant community that once was a part of our campus that never returned. With these acknowledgments, may we see the divine likeness in all of creation? Let us work against injustice and for the recognition of the human dignity for all people, especially the most vulnerable among us. We extend our hands and our hearts to our graduates near and far cross the city. The country cross the oceans around the globe. We pray that you and your families and loved ones are safe and well. We call forward the spirit. The creator source of grace. To our interconnection that makes us together a whole. We give thanks for this day a day of new beginnings for our graduates. In our separation from one another, our isolation in the tumult of the world, let us embrace the light in our graduates in them hope for a brighter future. Grant them grace that comes from on going self-awareness and listening deeply to others. Grant them patience to accept their imperfection and that of others to grow in empathy. Grant them connection that comes from being in relationship with others based on mutual respect and dignity for the value of the lives of others. Grant them humility in the face of their successes and achievements. May they embrace the beauty and vulnerability of our planet, our common home, and commit to care and protect it for future generations. May they hold gratitude for every breath they take in honor of those whose lives have been lost to disease, violence, bigotry and neglect. May they grow ever more compassionate towards those who are impoverished, maligned and marginalized. May they carry forward into the new beginnings The spirit of the Red Hawk commitment to care for the well being of themselves and others to honor differences in people and beliefs. To lead by example with their heads and their hearts fully engaged in this complex world. As people for others in the spirit of our Jesuit and Catholic tradition. Finally, grant them courage that they may honestly confront the world as it is, and create one that is more loving, more just, and more humane. Keep them safe wrapped in love and filled with purpose for the common good. Amen. This year's commencement marks the 24th and final commencement of Seattle University President Father Stephen Sundborg, who retires at the end of June. So just as you are graduate today, so too does Father Steve. In his tenure as the 21st President. The university has advanced in countless ways. In fact, the Seattle University of today bears little resemblance to the one he encountered 24 years ago. Having grown our campus facilities and buildings, our commitment to public art and the beautification of our campus. Enhancing our academic reputation. Increasing our success in athletics as a Division One institution and strengthening our commitments to building a more humane and just world. Through initiatives such as the Center for Community Engagement and the Seattle University Youth Initiative. These are but a few of the myriad ways that Seattle University has grown and improved under Father Steve's leadership. Perhaps the capstone of his distinguished career is the development of the Jim and Janet Sinegal Center for Science and innovation which will open in fall 2021 and transform SU's campus with its beauty, majesty, first rate classrooms and labs, and a gathering place for students, faculty, and staff. I want to thank Father Steve for his visionary leadership and extraordinary dedication to Seattle University. And wish him well in his future. It is now my privilege to introduce Father Stephen V. Sundborg of the Society of Jesus, the 21st President of Seattle University. Thank you, thanks. Thank you Doctor Martin. Welcome to your commencement. It's great to be able to have so much of the university here all at one time. Both undergraduates and graduates receiving Bachelors and Masters and Doctoral degrees. And at the same time to have alumni here who graduated in 2020. So welcome to all of you to your parents, families, children and friends. Welcome to faculty and staff of the university who together have been dedicated to an have made your education and this day possible. Let's all enjoy it celebrated. Be thankful for it, accept it as a blessing from God. This is a special commencement for me too, because it is my last commencement. I'm graduating after 24 years as president. You might say I'm a slow learner. If it took me that long to get to this day. It's great to celebrate and to enjoy it with you. This occasion invites us to ask ourselves what we have loved most about our experience of Seattle University. Let me suggest some things that I feel in which I believe we share. We love perhaps more than anything else that Seattle University is a place where we can be ourselves be just who we are. Be accepted and respected and included for who we are. There's no need here to be a certain kind of person, or to act in a certain required way in order to be fully part of this community and this education. This is rather unique and is a great blessing. We love what I call our edgy education and scrappy university. We're not tame, not removed, not ivory tower, but we're on the edge of emerging issues. The edge of what our world is becoming on the edge of the great social forces. An insights at play. We are a scrappy university in that we are always putting it together, flexible, adjusting, making it happen as we go, not frozen or predictable. Indeed, we love this edgy education in a scrappy university. We love the personal care of our professors. Our advisors, directors, coaches, mentors, and moderators. It's the first thing students say about how we are a Jesuit university. We experience a personal care and interest in us. A meeting us in our aspirations and needs. A dedication to our well being. We love our campus. This arboretum-like sanctuary in the middle of the city. A unique campus, unlike others, with an individuality and a personality, all of its own and its beauty, its gardens, its compactness, its class. Perhaps most of us even like these 52 acres as a campus for us, but also for dogs and squirrels and rabbits. The campus with the unique personality. We love Seattle University for its engagement with the neighborhood, the city, and the region. We are named correctly Seattle University. Perhaps we could be called Seattle's University. We do service with our neighbors. We have jobs and internships with our city patrons. We bring our city onto our campus to make our education more real and to bring the world and its issues to us. Finally, and we could each indicate more of what we love, we love that our university has a soul, a heart, a Jesuit Catholic identity, a spirit that animates it in its values and mission, its education and commitment to justice. We experienced this soul and the people of our community classmates, professors, supportive staff, friends. Who they are shapes us. They shape our own soul more than anything else. It's they and the spirit which we will most of all miss and for whom we will be most grateful. These are some of the things we most love as we reflect on our experience on this day of graduation. For you as well As for me. This is what we love. We know in turn this day how much we have been loved here and especially by family and friends who have accompanied us and have helped bring us to this day. Together, let us be grateful and let us celebrate. And please know my prayers for you this day and each day, as graduating students and alumni of Seattle University. I now invite the chair of our Board of trustees, Nicole Piasecki, to welcome and confer an honorary degree upon our commencement speaker, Father Greg Boyle of the Society of Jesus. Nicole. Today we are pleased to welcome and honor Father Greg Boyle of the Society of Jesus. After attending Loyola High School of Los Angeles, you entered the Jesuits. You were ordained in 1984 and following a year in Bolivia, you returned to LA and became pastor of Dolores Mission Church. At the time your parish was situated in an area with the highest concentration of gang activity in Los Angeles. Your ministry took you to hospital rooms where victims of violence fought for their lives. To funerals where you grieved with families who lost loved ones. And even into the line of fire where you tried to bring peace as gunshots rang out. In time you decided to do more. To not only accompany others in their worst hours. But to help set them on a path to a better life. In 1988 you launched a program that has come to be known as homeboy Industries and today it is the largest gang intervention rehabilitation and reentry program in the world. At Homeboy Industries, thousands upon thousands of men and women previously incarcerated and formerly, members of gangs have turned their lives around. They learn new skills, have access to jobs and benefit from a full complement of wraparound services. But more than that, the men and women who come to homeboy industries develop and take with them a sense of purpose and belonging. In your books, tattoos on the heart and barking to the choir, you share the stories of some of the people you have come to know and love at homeboy Industries. They are your community, your people. Yes, your homies. You meet them where they are, and they affectionately call you father G and G dawg. You make a difference in their lives, and as you were the first to point out, they make a difference in yours. By your words and your deeds Father Boyle, you advocate for a more compassionate and effective way of reaching, engaging and supporting those men and women who have been scorned, discarded, written off as irredeemable. Your work has been widely emulated and praised. Among other recognitions, and honors President Obama named you a champion of change in 2014. Father Boyle we thank you for demonstrating in the clearest, most beautiful terms what it means to show up for and be present to those who needed the most. You personify our mission to build a more just and humane world. Father Greg Boyle, Seattle University is proud to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. It's indeed, an honor to address you graduates, and I'm humbled by this honorary degree. You know what Martin Luther King says about church could well be said about your time at Seattle University. It's not the place you come to, it's the place you go from an you go from here to live as though the truth were true and to put first things recognizably first. You go from Seattle University with a vision. The Prophet Habakkuk writes the vision still has its time presses onto fulfillment and it will not disappoint. And if it delays, wait for it. But we've all waited for a long time, 14 months or so in this pandemic. We want to roll up our sleeves now, and we want to go to the margins because that is the only way they will get erased. We want to go there and to accompany those who are poor, powerless and voiceless. We want to go there to stand with the demonized so that the demonising will stop. The other day I was standing in front of this desk. A homie came named Carlos, who I've known for many years and he works in the bakery. He was on a break. He was wearing a hairnet and a mask, an apron dusted in flour, and. I buried his father many years ago. His father at 18 went to Vietnam to fight and met the acquaintance of heroin and. Many years later, he died of an overdose. Carlos got up at the funeral and said, you know, I've started using heroin myself because I wanted to know why my father loved it more than me. If his story had been a flame, you'd have to keep your distance, otherwise you'd get scorched. I would not have survived a single day of his childhood. So he's standing in front of my desk and during the pandemic I'd help him fix his teeth. And so he was grateful. So he came in, he said, hey, G can I take off my mask and show you my grill? And I said, sure, so he does. Big old Colgate smile and teeth, white and aligned and. And he was exaggerating the smile to show off the dental work. And then he looks at me and he says, not only did you pay for this smile. You are the reason. I'm smiling. Before I can say anything he goes Hey, that's good. Write it down, and so I do. I start to write it down, he re dictates it to me, not only did you pay. And the two of us as the homies around here say. We laughed from the stomach. Carlos is somebody who had chosen to transform his pain rather than inflict it. And the day will never come when I have more courage or I am more noble or I'm closer to God than Carlos. In the acts of the Apostles, they have this odd line and it says simply and awe came upon. Everyone. And it suggests that the measure of health in any community at all may well reside in our ability to stand in awe. At what the poor have to carry Rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it. For you will go from this place. Not to make a difference. But so that the folks at the margins will make you different. That the widow orphan and stranger will alter your hearts. Years ago I was invited to speak to 600 social workers in Richmond, VA and I took two homies with me, Andre and Jose to speak, and Jose got up first and he was probably 25 years old and he. Been to prison tattooed. He was in our 18 month training program. At the time of that talk, he had become a very valued member of our substance abuse team, a man solid in his own recovery, and now he was helping younger homies and home girls with their addiction issues, and so he had been to prison. But he also had a long stretch as a homeless man and an even longer stretch as a heroin addict. And so he gets up in front of 600 social workers. And he says, I guess you could say my mom and me. We didn't get along so good. I think I was six when she looked at me and she said why don't you just kill yourself? You're such a burden to me. Well, 600 social workers audibly gasp. And then he says it sounds way worser in Spanish. And then we got whiplash going from gasp to laugh. And then he continued. I think I was nine. When my mom drove me down to the deepest part of Baja California and she walks me up to an orphanage and she knocks on the door and the guy comes to the door and she says I found this kid. And she left me there. For 90 days. Until my grandmother could get out of her where she had dumped me and my grandmother came and rescued me. My mom beat me every single day of my elementary school years with things you could imagine and a lot of things you couldn't. Every day my back was bloodied and scarred. In fact I had to wear 3 T shirts to school each day. First T shirt 'cause the blood would seep through and 2nd T shirt. You could still see it. Finally, the third T-shirt. You couldn't see any blood. Kids at school. They make fun of me, hey fool. It's 100 degrees. Why you wearing 3 T shirts? Then he stopped speaking, so overwhelmed with emotion and he seemed to be staring at a piece of his story. That only he could see. And when he could regain his speech, he said through his tears. I wore 3 T shirts. Well into my adult years. Because I was ashamed of my wounds. I didn't want anybody to see 'em. But now I welcome my wounds. I run my fingers over my scars. My wounds are my friends. How can I help heal the wounded? If I don't welcome my own wounds. And awe Came up on. Everyone. The measure of our compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins, but only. In our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them. Or the truth of the matter? Is this if we don't welcome our own wounds, we may well despise the wounded. And Seattle University is not the place you've come to. It is the place you. Go from. And you plant yourselves at the margins, because that's the only way they'll get erased. And you imagine a circle of compassion. Can you imagine nobody standing outside that circle? You go from here to dismantle the barriers that exclude and the vision still has its time. Presses on to fulfillment and it will not disappoint. And if it delays. Wait for it. And May God bless you. Graduates. I would now like to ask Doctor Alvin Sturdavant, Vice President for Student Development, to introduce us to our class of 2021 student speakers. The class of 2020 has its own speaker who will share their remarks during the class of 2020 ceremony to follow. Each year an undergraduate and graduate student are selected by a panel of faculty, staff and students to speak on behalf of the graduating class, the spokespersons for the class of 2021 are Sam Kramer and Nicole Parker. Sam will receive her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Spanish. In her time at Seattle University, Sam has been actively engaged both on campus and in the larger Seattle community, exploring her passions for the Environment, Sustainability, Service, justice, and music, among others. A Sullivan Scholar, New Student Retreat leader, College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Committee on intersectionality and Justice member Sam has made the most of every moment at Seattle University. Sam served as an environmental consultant with MotMot. A student run ethically sourced coffee company that focuses on removing educational barriers for coffee farmers and their families, including traveling to Penas Blancas, Nicaragua, to research how supply chain management and coffee prices impact the lives of farmers and their communities. Additionally, Sam served as a summer Youth Initiative intern for the Center for Community Engagement as Co President and Co. Founder of Remixed Seattle use Multiracial Student Association Co captain of D1 improv Seattle U's very own improv group, and as a Red Hawk ambassador for Seattle, U's Undergraduate Admissions office, the connecting thread to Sam's involvement at Seattle University was about being able to create spaces in which people feel heard, seen and cared for. Sam leaves Seattle University as the 2021 Parento award winner, recognizing her accomplishment as the graduating student with the highest GPA in anthropology and sociology. Faculty, staff, family, guests and most importantly graduating class of 2021. I can't believe we made it here together. While we may not actually be physically in the same room, but nonetheless here we are at the end of our journey through Seattle you. It feels just like yesterday I was writing my college essay about why I wanted to go to SU. I think specifically about the quote in my essay by Samuel Beckett. Ever tried ever failed? No matter, try again. Fail again, fail better. And boy did I fail many many times, but that's OK failing and not knowing what to do isn't so scary after making it through this past year. Our college careers sure aren't going down as the easiest ones in history, but I think that we are definitely the most resilient from shifting our senior year to zoom boxes on a screen and having socially distanced Hangouts with friends, we have amazingly shifted our expectations and lives for our final year at SU. We are constantly trying again. Nothing has been perfect about this year, but it is the fact that we haven't given up on ourselves and our community that I hope we can all recognize and be proud of. I'm leaving Seattle U feeling grateful for the opportunities this Community has given me to learn more about myself and others, plus the lifelong friends I've made along the way. Before the world shut down and we all became those little boxes on the screen, we had three years of some pretty great in person. Memories like filing into school buses to go to fall ball at the Seattle Aquarium, or going on new student retreat and freezing in the wilderness. And even during this past year, through the hardships and loss, there were silver linings. Today is my silver lining being here with you all is amazing and a reminder of how far we've come. So while I can't promise you smooth roads ahead, I know that you'll always try again. Fail again, and most importantly, fail better. Congratulations class of 2021. We did it. Our graduate student speaker is Nicole Parker. Nicole is receiving her Master of Education and Student Development Administration. She serves as the graduate program coordinator in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Her incredible leadership and commitment to inclusion has left a lasting impact on our campus beyond her tenure at the university. During her time with us, Nicole has served as an Ignite mentor to incoming students and as the student parent representative on the Graduate Student Council. She organized resources for Resident Ministeres, an resident assistant, to support students around the 2020 election cycle and more recently, Nicole partner with Campus Ministry in the efforts to make interfaith cooperation and dialogue central to the mission and identity of the university. Nicole believes we all play a critical role in bridging diverse worldviews, religious identities, and casting a vision for an inclusive society on our campus and beyond. What a year it has been. Many of us have endured unimaginable hardship over the past year. We've been faced with difficult challenges in our personal, professional, and academic lives. We may also find ourselves here and now unsure of what is coming next, but I'm here to say we survived it. Whether it was the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. The weight of racial injustice. Or you fill in the blank. The fact remains this year was a test. A test that none of us wanted. But a test that we all grew from. When I started this chapter of my academic journey, I was a single mother with an infant. I was a recent domestic violence survivor. I was first generation in college and I was unsure of the road ahead. I began my Masters degree with the mindset of a lone wolf. I did not want to make friends. I didn't trust anyone to see me in my entirety and I was determined to do it alone. But as I faced challenges that made me question if I belonged here. It was the SU community that rallied around me. It was the staff and faculty who were willing to have tough conversations. It was the professors who held me accountable while also offering grace and compassion. It was the friends and family who didn't let me quit. And it was the community of peers like you who offered affirmation. When I couldn't find the strength to carry on. This day marks the end of a hard-won, academic journey. And it also marks the end of a special chapter of personal growth. We all entered our respective programs simply seeking our degrees. But if you are anything like me, you gained so much more. You demonstrated determination, resilience, and tenacity. You learned to make hard decisions about when to prioritize your own needs. You may have even discovered what is truly important to you. And above all else, you are here now. So here in now I challenge you to join me in this charge. Let's go forward as survivors, and let's build a world in which those that come after us are so seen and so supported. That resilience is not their only hope. One of my favorite authors, the late Toni Morrison, once said as you enter positions of trust and power dream a little before you think and I will close with this. Hardship can make you focus so much on survival that you think yourself out of dreaming. But I challenge us all to get less practical. And to rediscover our abilities to dream. Because who knows what future we can imagine together. We made it. Thank you class of 2021. The Archbishop Raymond G Hunthausen Outstanding Service Awards, recognize an undergraduate student and a graduate student who embodied the Jesuit ideal of being a person for others through service to both the university community and the greater community beyond campus. Adelia Watson is the undergraduate recipient of the 2021 Raymond G Hunthausen Outstanding Service Award. Nominator's describe Adelia's leadership as truly grounded, rooted and guided by love. Love of individual love of community. Love for social and environmental justice and self love. Adelia is graduating with a BA in environmental studies with a specialization in education. And a communications minor. In her role as a student involvement ambassador and a mentor at Seattle's Young Women empowered, she consistently demonstrated her willingness to serve as a leader for and with others. As a Doris Duke Conservation scholar, she designed a sensory experience map and modified the zoo's first Braille documents. So that they'd be accessible for blind and low vision guests at the Woodland Park Zoo. In addition to Co creating the first student-led endowed scholarship for Black and African American students at Seattle U. She has consistently worked collaboratively to create spaces for community and healing for students. She initiated and planned the memorial service for Derek Hayden, a Seattle University graduate student who was killed by the Seattle Police Department in February of this year. As the President of the Black Student Union, she has convened spaces led by black students to both provide healing and solidarity within the community and educate non black allies how to better show up for black lives on campus and in the community. She is resilient. Working multiple jobs. Self advocating to be able to fund her education. Her strength, persistence, energy and power. Towards justice is rooted in the deep love and care to make things better, to make others feel, seen and heard. Please join me in. Congratulating Adelia Watson, our undergraduate Hunthausen award recipient. The graduate recipient of the 2021 Archbishop Raymond G Hunthausen Outstanding Service Award is Nicole Parker. In addition to what you have already heard from Doctor Sturtevant, in his introduction of Nicole as our graduate student speaker today, Nicole is a leader, an advocate for justice, and as such, she understands the importance of continuing her growth and learning. Nicole has completed the green Dot bystander intervention training. Attended the One Love foundation pivot to prevention conference and the virtual Assembly for Women of Color. Hosted by Future for us. And every space Nicole consistently raises up the voices of the marginalized and underrepresented students. She has maintained a 3.975 GPA. While juggling her classwork on campus, graduate assistantship a research internship at Highline College. And her personal responsibilities as a parent to a young child. Nicoles leadership, vision, and commitment have made a lasting positive impact on our community. And we have no doubt this will continue in the years to come. She exemplifies academic excellence, student involvement, service and collaborative leadership within the campus community and beyond. Her numerous accomplishments are being recognized through her selection for this most prestigious student award. Please join me in honoring Nicole Parker as our 2021 graduate recipient of the Archbishop Raymond G Hunthausen award. The Provost's Award is presented to a graduating senior who entered Seattle University as a transfer student and has excelled academically and has achieved the highest Seattle University grade point average among their peers through the completion of the baccalaureate degree. Sidney Stafford is the recipient of the 2021 Provost award. Sidney is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She excelled academically by maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout the program of study. While dedicating ample time to service for others. In addition to maintaining a perfect GPA, Sidney worked as a certified nursing assistant for elderly residents of the Kline Galland home for most of 2019 and 2020. She has applied her passion for helping seniors to live healthy and fulfilling lives through her population, health internship, or PHI which he is completing at a low income assisted living home this academic year. Doctor Alex Shook, who has been Sydney's faculty of record in the PHI series, described Sydney as someone who offered great reflections for the class. Particularly related to the need for nurses to practice cultural humility and cultural safety in population health nursing. With the prevention lens in mind, for seniors residing in low income housing. She created a website to provide information about community resources. COVID-19 precautions and the importance of getting vaccinated. Another notable contribution of Sidney Statford to the SU community is her coordination of SU's Stop. The Bleed program, which is a nationally recognized program that teaches people how to stop the progression of life threatening, bleeds in an urban environment. Sydney has earned a trainer certificate for Stop the Bleed and has managed to affectively teach the course during the pandemic. Currently, as part of the succession planning, she is training junior students to obtain Stop the Bleed trainer certifications and continue this important work after she graduates from SU. Sydney has also actively participated in student life on campus during the pandemic. Doing her best to keep up the morale of other students. As the vice president of the senior transfer student cohort for the Bachelor of Science in nursing, she facilitated Cohort Communications and assisted with fund raising efforts. One of her classmates recently recalled that Sydney's communications with the cohort were particularly helpful during the spring quarter 2020, when she created and sent weekly newsletters to keep the cohort connected and informed with the goal to keep classmates spirits up during the lockdown. Please recognize our 2021 Provost award recipient. Sidney Stafford. The President's award is given to the graduate who has maintained the highest level of scholarship throughout four years of study at Seattle University. Lindsay Bui is the recipient of the 2021 Presidents Award. Lindsey is receiving her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree with a minor in psychology. A truly extraordinary student, she is dedicated to becoming a professional and compassionate nurse. She has continually made a positive impact on those around her. Lindsay served as a Red Hawk ambassador, who provided campus tours assistance to perspective Seattle U students and their families and participated in Fall preview days and admitted student open houses. As a tutor for Seattle U's Learning Assistance program. She served as an informal mentor to 1st year nursing students whom she tutored in a variety of nursing courses. Lindsey has also been an active member of several student clubs. As a member of both the Vietnamese Student Association and United Filipino Club, she was elected to a variety of leadership and creative roles involved in the production of each club's annual cultural shows. Despite managing a busy schedule and participating in campus activities, Lindsay excelled in her scholastic skills, maintaining a stellar grade point average of 4.0. Her academic excellence resulted in a position on the president's and Deans lists for outstanding achievement every quarter. In 2020, she was inducted as a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society. One of Lindsay's nursing advisors, Jamie Navatta writes. Lindsey is a warm, friendly, empathetic person. And an excellent role model for other students. She models the Seattleu mission in the way that she provides holistic care, engages in therapeutic communication, promotes the importance of social justice in the healthcare field, and maintains thoughtful curiosity. After graduation, Lindsey will begin a new position at UW Medical Center working in medical surgery and oncology. Please join me in recognizing our 2021 Presidents Award recipient Lindsay Bui. The 2021 Provost award for Graduate Student Excellence recipient is Jamie Vo, who received a Masters of Social Work degree from the College of Arts and Sciences. Jamie Vo is an outstanding student whose excellence in scholarship, leadership, and professional engagement is an exemplar for the graduate leadership and Professional Engagement Award. The Master of Social Work program greatly benefited from Jamies leadership and service in her first year in the program, Jamie Co coordinated the department's participation in the Washington State National Association of Social Workers Policy advocacy conference at the Washington State Capital. Social work students have strongly endorsed the importance of this event in their policy, advocacy, education and practice. This year, Jamie provided leadership as the coordinator for the MSW students of Color Group, which is a student LED mutual aid support and Leadership Development Group for students of color. This academic here Jamies clinical social work practicum is at the Asian Counseling and Referral Service where she provides counseling and case management services to largely Asian American youth from immigrant and refugee families. Previously, she interned at New Horizons, where she worked with young adults who are experiencing homelessness and mental health issues. Jamies leadership and professional development capacity was recognized nationally by the Council on Social Work Education which selected her as part of the 2020-2021 cohort of their prestigious Minority Fellowship program. She was one of only 42 MSW students selected from hundreds of applicants nationwide. This Fellowship program award. Sizable scholarship funding as well as a national mentorship program. Finally, as a student, Jamie contributes to elevating the learning experience of her classes by consistently providing powerful critical analysis and endeavoring to focus on social justice in all aspects of her work. Her writing is outstanding and demonstrates her ability for innovative and forward thinking that synthesizes multiple sources of knowledge and experiences to build creative, equitable interventions. Jamie demonstrated excellence in academic achievement as a student by maintaining a 4.0 GPA while balancing practicum and leadership activities. Jamie is already an asset to the social work profession and with her MSW degree she will undoubtedly become a leader in the field of clinical social work. Please join me in recognizing our 2021 Provost award for Graduate Student Excellence recipient Jamie Vo. President Sundborg. It is my honor to present to you the candidates for bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from the Albert School of Business and Economics. The College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the College of Nursing, the College of Science and Engineering. The School of New and Continuing Studies and the School of Theology and Ministry. The candidates have fulfilled all of the requirements for their degrees as recommended by their respective faculties and Deans, and I recommend that their degrees be confired upon them. Thank you Doctor Martin. By virtue of the authority granted by the Charter of Seattle University and vested in me by the Board of trustees. And acting upon the recommendation of the Deans and faculties of the several colleges and schools. I hereby confer upon the graduates of the class of 2021 who have successfully completed their program requirements and been so certified by the Registrar of the university, their respective degrees, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereunto. And now as a sign of your entry into the company of the learned, you may move your tassels from the right to the left. We congratulate all of our graduates. And welcome you into this Seattle University alumni community as Red Hawks for life. You're all now members of the Seattle University Alumni Association. A worldwide network of over 82,000 alumni. And we encourage you to be active and engaged with your alma mater. It is now my pleasure to introduce Tyes Hernandes Comparo Bachelor of Arts in Psychology to offer the benediction. We, the students of the class of 2021. Gathered to celebrate the momentous occasion of our graduation. We look back and look forward with eyes open and gratitude and hope. And so we pray. Loving spirit we acknowledge all that has come before this special moment. Each one of us has brought our whole selves into our education and the richness of our various backgrounds. Has shaped Seattle University. The last few years have carried a mixture of sorrow, joy, determination, loss, love and more. We have faced a reckoning for justice during the pandemic and through the renewed calls for racial justice and equity. We have been challenged to step up and become leaders in our communities to care and advocate for those on the margins, all the while finishing our degrees in a tumultuous time. We trust that you have accompanied us through these years, present always with your abiding care inspiring us to seek justice. Spirit of Grace and love. You have strengthened the class of 2021 to be resilient and to truly discover what it means to be people for and with others. God of justice. You have blessed this class with the gifts we need to be transformative leaders in the world. We are grateful for all those who have contributed to our education. The faculty and staff, friends, community members and family have supported us and inspired us to be compassionate and loving. Spirit of abundant love. Help us to use our gifts to shape society in a holistic way for the flourishing of all. Inspire us with compassion to continue growing and challenging our communities to be more rooted in care. Grant that we may authentically encounter those around us as we strive for peace and hope. Give us a spirit of curiosity, understanding resilience and strength to guide us. As we prepare to enter a new chapter of our lives, I ask you loving Breath of God to walk with us and support us through every step of the way ahead. That we may continue to embody your loving and abundant spirit to all the corners of the earth. I make this prayer through Christ our Lord, Amen. Thank you all. Our main university ceremony is now concluded. And we ask you to navigate to your school or college ceremony where individual graduate names will be recognized. The class of 2020 has its own ceremony and links for these ceremonies can be found on the Seattle University commencement website and had been sent to each participating student via text messaging, an email. After this initial streaming, all ceremonies will continue to be available on the commencement website for later viewing. I thank all of you for attending Seattle University's commencement and wish you all peace, health and fortitude in your journeys forward.
