Who is Speaking at UC San Diego’s 2026 All Campus Commencement

Story by:

• Jen Jordan - [email protected]

Published Date

Julia Cervantez

Cervantez will graduate from Eighth College with a degree in International Studies - Political Science, minoring in Global Health. She shares her thoughts on the value in looking at how things used to be:

I am not advocating that we ruminate on the past. Instead, we must use that culture, community and passion to ensure that we all carry the legacy of UC San Diego with us into the future. In an era of great uncertainty, finding a balance between past values and adapting to new changes will allow us to use the characteristics that fundamentally unite us and pursue the diverse passions we have spent years developing.

I hope we can all use the changes we have experienced, both major and minor, to recognize our role in the ever-changing world around us, and use this adaptability after graduation in work, community engagement and more. Knowing the past is important, but using that knowledge to shape the future is crucial.

Stella Ghevondyan

Ghevondyan will graduate from Eleanor Roosevelt College with a degree in Public Health. She reflects on her journey, rooted in the idea of service:

As a first-generation student, I arrived carrying questions about where I belonged, about whether I was capable, about how someone like me could make an impact. And somewhere between late nights in Geisel, early mornings rushing to the lab and conversations that challenged everything I thought I knew, I learned that discovery is about identity, community and courage.

Here, I learned that impact doesn't start in conference rooms, operating rooms or boardrooms. It starts in classrooms where we dare to speak up, in labs where we fail and try again, in dorm hallways where strangers become lifelong friends, in communities that trust us with their stories.

UC San Diego taught me to ask harder questions about health equity, about access, about whose voices are missing. It taught me that innovation means nothing if it doesn't include everyone.

But more than anything, this university gave me people: Mentors who believed in me before I believed in myself, friends who became family, communities that reminded me I was never walking alone.

Benjamin C. Kennedy

Kennedy will graduate with his PhD from the Department of Education Studies. He shares how he turned fear and doubt into determination:

I arrived at UC San Diego during a global crisis, 3,000 miles from home, with no family or friends in the area. Navigating academia as a first-generation, openly transgender scholar (and the first in my department's history) was not easy. But I realize now with a sense of gratitude and wonder that I never would have wanted it to be. My time at UC San Diego has helped me become a person who is able to ride the waves of uncertainty, and the surf certainly has been high over these years.

I was fortunate to have the quiet, constant presence and incredible support of my advisor Dr. Amanda Datnow. Amanda always believed in me, even - especially - when I didn't. Her guidance and wisdom became the guardrails along my journey, there for me to bump into as I made mistakes along the way, a way to keep me on track. And I definitely bumped into those guardrails a few times.

But I learned to see every failure as an opportunity, and to transform every doubtful "what if" into "even if." I turned my fear and doubt into determination to continue breaking boundaries and become a "possibility model" for those who came after me. And I learned that I am - we are - exactly who and where we are supposed to be. I hope that as we transition out of this phase of life, we continue to challenge assumptions, challenge boundaries, and challenge ourselves. Success is nothing without community, and I am so honored and humbled that this is mine.

Cynthia Nyongesa

Nyongesa will graduate from the Department of Neurosciences with her PhD in Computational Neuroscience. She wants fellow graduates to know how UC San Diego gave her something she didn't know she needed:

Five years ago, I landed in La Jolla from Nairobi with one suitcase, extremely unrealistic expectations about the weather, and a question nobody had quite figured out yet. I thought I'd spend five years quietly solving it. Instead, I spent five years being humbled by it, loudly, repeatedly, and occasionally at 2 a.m. in Geisel Library.

What UC San Diego gave me was something I didn't know I needed more: the relationships that refused to let me walk away from the questions; my advisor, who looked at me during my worst week and said, "the science is hard because it matters;" peers who silently slid coffee across the table at midnight; and a community that taught me that you can be rigorous and still be a person.

I also discovered, somewhere between the failed models and the grant rejections and the Pilates classes I was somehow teaching at 6 a.m. while finishing my dissertation, that impact is seldom linear. Discovery doesn't announce itself. It sneaks up on you in a dataset, in a student's face, in a stranger who tells you their mother is starting to forget things.

That is what this place gave me: Not a straight path, but the people and the pressure to figure out who I am when the path disappears. Every late night, every rejection letter, every conversation in this university made me sharper, stranger and honestly a little more stubborn. I am choosing to call that growth.

Xander Stowe

Stowe will graduate from Earl Warren College with a degree in Media Industries and Communication.

Being a transfer student, I was already feeling anxious jumping into a buzzing, busy and packed university. I didn't trust that what I could do was enough and was worried I wouldn't be 'successful.'

However, my time here has made me understand four things: that I can't measure my life by success; that I should search for a deeper meaning; that what I want in life comes from myself; and that it's up to me to find this path.

The connections I have made here with my peers, friends, mentors and professors have made me feel stronger in my abilities, making it clear to me that giving back and utilizing the opportunities presented to me drive my success and help me find fulfillment.

At the end of the day, it is you versus you. Believe in yourself and your community. Trust what your gut is telling you. I guarantee you, you can do way more than you think.

Since starting at UC San Diego, I feel like a new person. When I arrived at UC San Diego, I was scared and insecure in my capabilities. Now at the end, I feel more secure. I trust in my abilities, the path I chose here, the trust I put in this institution and that the opportunities, skills and connections will be with me forever to help me succeed. I have created an identity for myself through my community. I found myself here.

UC San Diego gave me the opportunity to prove to myself, my family and my peers that I could succeed.

Fong Vo

Vo will graduate from Seventh College with a major in Data Science. Looking back on his time at UC San Diego, he found that some of his most meaningful lessons began in moments when he felt uncertain about what came next:

As a tutor for DSC 40B, I once worked with a student who was completely stuck on a problem. The challenge for them wasn't memorizing the steps of the algorithm; it was understanding why any of it worked. We rebuilt the idea from the ground up, starting with simpler questions and working carefully through the reasoning behind each step.

When it finally clicked, he said, "That's the first time it actually made sense." What stayed with me was not the algorithm itself, but the process. Understanding didn't come from moving faster. It came from slowing down, embracing uncertainty, and staying with the problem long enough for clarity to emerge.

Years later, I realize that my own experience at UC San Diego has followed a similar pattern. When I arrived on campus, I knew almost no one. During my first quarter, I started going to Data Science office hours because I wanted to become more comfortable meeting people. Over time, what once felt intimidating gradually became a community that made UC San Diego feel like home.

Looking back, I see that these experiences both began with uncertainty. They required taking a step forward before knowing exactly how things would turn out. And both experiences taught me that some of the most meaningful growth happens when we stay present long enough for understanding or connection to take shape.

As I move forward, I hope to build and contribute in ways that make learning more accessible and help others feel that they belong while figuring things out. UC San Diego taught me that clarity and confidence are rarely starting points. More often, they are the result of showing up, asking questions, and remaining open to what can happen next.

Share This:

• Share this story on Linkedin
• Share this story on Facebook
• Share this story on Threads
• Share this story on Twitter
• Share this story via email