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On Sunday, May 18, thousands of students will make the traditional march down Mount Oread from Memorial Drive, through the campanile and into Memorial Stadium. Here are some of the faces you will see in the procession and their interesting stories:
KU student uses power of the theater to help change the world
Kate Giessel is graduating from KU with bachelor's degrees in theater and linguistics and a minor in Latin American studies. The combination of her majors came together this year as she took the helm of a one-act play, "Linguish."
Service-driven KU senior aims to do well and give back
As a KU Endowment Meritorious Scholar, Ryan Rowan will graduate with bachelor’s degrees in political science and African and African-American studies. As one of 10 graduating seniors honored with Chancellor’s Awards, Rowan will be on the platform with the chancellor during May 18 commencement in Memorial Stadium.
For indigenous nations scholar, law school beckons
Growing up as a member of the Kansas Kickapoo Nation in Horton, Mandy Cisneros took the challenges facing her tribe to heart. She resolved to use her education to benefit the Kansas Kickapoo — and this ambition has led Cisneros to New Mexico, Capitol Hill and back home to Kansas.
Despite health hurdle, KU senior acts on social consciousness
Rachael Huffman’s passion to save the world was ignited one day as she rode in the passenger seat of the family car. From behind the wheel, her mother noticed a suspicious tractor-trailer driving on the road ahead that was leaking what Huffman described as “a neon substance.”
Budding researcher boosts knowledge of cell phone behavior
During his time at the University of Kansas, Erik Nelson researched why — despite the risks — people talk and text on cell phones while driving cars. His well-publicized study has shed an important light on drivers’ hazardous cell phone habits.
KU grad hopes to combine love of medicine, linguistics
Jennifer Garrison will earn a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from KU this month and will soon start a graduate course of study that she hopes will lead to a career as a speech-language pathologist.
KU student devotes time to teaching, volunteering
Karen Acosta will graduate from the University of Kansas this month with a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language — a field that has seen huge growth as more and more people seek to communicate in a common tongue.
KU piano major holds success on the tips of his fingers
Imagine University of Kansas senior Nick Weiser as a 5-year-old sitting at the old upright piano in his dad’s bar in a western Kansas town. He can pick out and play by ear the tunes he hears on the radio. He has perfect pitch but doesn’t yet know it. It would be three years before his first piano lesson.
VIDEO: Weiser on his opportunities at KU
KU degrees separated by nearly 40 years for longtime educator
Betty Amos earned her bachelor's in special education in 1970 from KU and went on to a 30-year career in education. Flash forward 40 years, and Amos has reached the Mount Everest of academia: the doctoral degree.
KU senior focuses energies on Hawkin' the student vote
Marc Langston, a Wichita senior and honor roll student, who will graduate with bachelor’s degrees in political science and art history, hopes to attend law school and prepare for a public service career.
48 hours as a homeless person was ‘life changing’ for KU student
Max Stettner has a passion for helping people. This month, he will graduate from the University of Kansas with a bachelor's in American studies and a minor in business with an emphasis in race and gender.
Social welfare students raise awareness of aging adults’ needs
Leslie Fuller and Julia Vering-Young, who are earning master’s of social welfare degrees this spring have developed projects at two Kansas City-area facilities that will improve services for aging adults for years to come.
Ph.D. at 23
Shannon Portillo will earn her doctorate in public administration from KU this month and is headed to George Mason University to take a tenure-track position on the faculty of the Administration of Justice Department.
KU engineering student earns distinction as Haskell transfer
As a high school student in Tahlequah, Okla., Kristin Danielson, whose heritage includes Jemez Pueblo and Cherokee, never considered college.
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