Speakers Selected for 2023 Commencement Ceremonies
Erica Brandt, left,��who��will receive her Master���s in occupational therapy,��will��be the speaker at the graduate commencement ceremony on Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. in the Event Center. A native of Medina, Ohio, Brandt graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2003 with a B.A. in sociology. After spending 12 years raising three children as a stay at home mom, she earned an associate���s degree as an occupational therapy assistant. Brandt worked��in the field and loved that experience, which led her to pursuing her master���s��at Le 91心頭利嫋. Her goal is to practice OT in an acute care or outpatient rehab setting.
The undergraduate ceremony speaker will be��Ivy Santana, a criminology major with minors in Spanish and gender and women’s studies, who is originally from the Dominican Republic and grew up in Queens, N.Y. After graduation she will work��for a year��as a paralegal��at a law firm in Syracuse and then��attend��Syracuse University to pursue her law degree.
During her time on the Heights,��Santana��served��as an RA, as vice president of student development��for��the Student Government Association, as president of the Council of Honor Societies and��as��co-president of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society for the First Year.��A��CSTEP Scholar��who was in the��Integral Honors Program,��she��interned with Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter and the Kings County Federal Court through the Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program.
Her message to her classmates? ���Keep your eyes on the prize and use the last four years as a reminder that we are stronger than we think, and together we��were��able to make it through the finish line. But most importantly, I would like to remind the class of 2023 of their resiliency, and their ability to adapt to change and succeed through it.���