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Commencement: Celebrating Our May 2022 Grads

On-the-Spot Features


Senior Award Winners

University Service Award: Mia Derks

"I have had the opportunity to learn from people at NKU and in my community, which has provided me with an education that goes beyond just academics."
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Excelsior Award: Aryan Shrestha

"My parents always wanted me to get a degree, and I am very happy that my parents’ wishes are going to come true."
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Faculty Senate Award: Elise Bezold

"The opportunities, faculty and people we meet help mold us into new versions of ourselves...I am not the same person I was four years ago because of what NKU has offered."
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Faculty Senate Award: Samuel "Sam" Bauer

"I’m getting closer and closer to achieving my goals of getting the chance to work with animals and educate the public."
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NKU Foundation Award: Katelyn "Katie" Clough

"My greatest passion is learning and understanding how the world works. Whether that is learning new things about the brain or learning the process by which a band wrote an album, I just love finding and figuring stuff out."

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Regents Award: Jackson Coates

“I chose NKU because NKU offered me the opportunity to get an affordable education and the chance to continue running track. The friends and connections with faculty I made in my first year kept me here."

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Salmon P. Chase Award: Aurielle March

Aurielle had a student license to practice law under supervision of a lawyer and worked with the Children’s Law Center in Covington, Kentucky. There, she represented a 14-year-old in an offense and acted as guardian ad litem, appointed to represent the interests of a child, in two contested custody cases.

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Commencement Speakers

Student Commencement Speaker: Elise Bezold

"The opportunities, faculty and people we meet help mold us into new versions of ourselves. We don’t grow without the help of others, especially those who have pushed us out of our comfort zone ... I am not the same person I was four years ago because of what NKU has offered."

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Afternoon Commencement Speaker: Lily Gamel

"I came to NKU to just get a degree, and I am coming out with so much more. I feel that I am not the same person I was when I first started at NKU because it has been such a transformative journey.”

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