NDSU’s spring commencement ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, at 10 a.m. in the Fargodome.
Registrar Rhonda Kitch said 1,285 graduate, professional and undergraduate students have indicated they intend to march in the ceremony, as of April 27. A total of 2,156 students are eligible to participate.
“We are very excited to celebrate our graduates’ academic successes at the upcoming ceremony. This ceremony marks the largest eligible graduating class in our institution’s history, as well as the largest group of participants to date,” Kitch said. “We look forward to welcoming graduates, faculty, staff, family and other guests to the ceremony, and celebrating our graduates' academic successes.”
Senior Houda Abdelrahman will represent her class as student speaker. She is receiving a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in zoology.
"Giving this speech is a huge honor and it's a chance to express a heartfelt thank you to my instructors, mentors and wonderful classmates. I want to leave them with a positive message on a special day," said Abdelrahman, who graduated from Fargo South High School.
Her campus activities ranged from working as an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Biological Sciences to contributing health and science articles for the Spectrum student newspaper. She studied insects in her research, focusing on low-oxygen storage for pollinator bees and a sex-determination gene in flies. Her work earned her a summer research internship at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. In addition, she contributed poetry and fiction to the Department of English's "Northern Eclecta" project, and served as vice president and secretary of the College of Science and Mathematics Student Ambassadors. Abdelrahman was a member of the Pre-Medicine Association and volunteered at Bethany Retirement Living, Sanford Hospital Emergency Center and Fargo Adult Learning Center's "English as a Second Language" program. She will attend medical school following graduation and plans to become a physician.
The commencement soloist will be Nicholas Kasper, who is from Fargo. He is receiving a Bachelor of Science in music, with a minor in business administration. He has been active in numerous musical groups during his time as a student, including Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers and BisonArts Singers. He also appeared in two operas at NDSU: "The Magic Flute" and "The Mikado." He plans to work at Bell State Bank and Trust following graduation.
"It is truly an honor and a privilege to be able to honor our great university by singing our school anthem, 'The Yellow and the Green,' as well as our country with the 'Star Spangled Banner.' It is an event I will not forget," Kasper said.
Additional information about the NDSU commencement ceremony is available at www.ndsu.edu/commencement/. The ceremony will be streamed live, with an archive video available the week following the ceremony.
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