Krithi Basu

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment was when I drafted and sent a department-wide email signed by about 100 other students to my department's faculty and administrators urging them to consider granting extensions and accommodations for Black students and students of color who were trying to balance completing their finals and contributing to the Black Lives Matter protests and other ongoing anti-racist movements. Over the years, I had noticed that there was a broad trend of apathy in the STEM community towards non-medical social issues so I was glad that I could bring in my social justice and ethics perspective to call attention to it in my department and see results when professors began to offer accommodations to their socially engaged and active students.

I started out at UW as a direct admit to the Bioengineering program, but little did I know that I would find my true passion in the field of law. I am so grateful for the Honors program for opening gateways for me to explore subjects outside of STEM and be my most authentic self. Despite being an introvert, watching my peers in the Honors program inspired me to take on leadership roles in the UW community, including Vice President of Delta Kappa Delta Sorority, Inc. (a South Asian interest professional service sorority), Professional Development Chair of Phi Alpha Delta (a professional pre-law fraternity), and the Director of Judicial and Secretarial Affairs of the Multicultural Greek Council. I have learned how to balance school, a part-time job, and these extracurricular commitments, and I could not have done any of it without the wisdom of my professors and the support of my friends and family. I am so excited to see where I go next, and I am very proud of everyone who is graduating today!