Graduation 2019: videos, profiles and highlights

A look into our Honors celebration

June 24, 2019

Graduation 2019: videos, profiles and highlights

Congratulations to the University of Washington’s newest 111 Interdisciplinary and/or College Honors graduates! This class represents more than 55 degrees earned within a wide range of majors (see full list below).

Many of these graduates completed double majors from fields traditionally widely separated, but now acknowledged to be more closely related, which, held together in parallel, are making important and critically relevant connections, leading to new fields of study and new professions and connections out in the world. They also went above and beyond their considerable degree requirements in order to graduate with Honors. Every graduate of our program models academic excellence, interdisciplinary thinking, ethical service and leadership, global engagement and openness and curiosity for active purpose in the world.

They head off to develop life-saving solutions to problems in public health, to challenge the field of engineering to behave with integrity towards social justice efforts, and the list goes on. Most Honors graduates have also expressed an intention to continue to reflect on their actions, motivations, and assumptions. Here are some direct quotes taken from our graduates’ recently completed  Honors reflective portfolios (earlier this month):

“I began to realize how important it is to have a conscious awareness of my growth and beliefs, especially as graduation approaches. Recruiters for jobs and graduate schools are not going to ask, ‘How do you generate a confidence interval around a point estimate of variance when population standard deviation must be estimated?’ Rather, they will want to know that I have a self-awareness of how my skill set and personal strengths will make me an active and well-rounded team member, as well as an independently driven contributor. I now understand that reflection is an active process of learning in the same way that studying for classes or gaining experience in labs.”

“I came to UW valuing what I was told success was, but I feel that I know have my own barometer for success. I have gone from being a mostly unaware and blindly ambitious person, to one with my own values that can contradict those of the world around me. I value making a positive impact on equity and access just as much as I care about furthering myself. I care far more about the sustainability of how I treat myself over being an absolute perfectionist, and I am happy to question my beliefs or have them challenged.”

“Don’t forget to reflect and introspect. The value of introspection cannot be underestimated. It is how you keep your life in line with your values, your strengths, your goals and dreams. It may appear, as it did to me, that the people who get ahead are the people who always have their heads down. This is not true. If you reflect, you stay in control of your destiny.”

2019 Distinguished Honors Alumnus

Katelin “Kat” Chow, ’12 (Communications with College Honors) changes how we think and talk about race, ethnicity, and culture in America as a founding member of the award-winning NPR reporting team, Code Switch. We are excited to recognize her interdisciplinary excellence, commitment to global citizenship and vital public impact. Watch Kat’s address on YouTube.

Graduating Student Address

Sofia Dulce, ‘19, Industrial Engineering with Interdisciplinary Honors Gautham Velchuru, ‘19, Computer Science with Interdisciplinary Honors. Watch it on YouTube.

Congratulations to…

To view and download graduation candids, click here. Check out photos from our portfolio celebrations here.

Meet our awesome grads and read their profiles here.