At the Graduate Student Council’s April general body meeting, speakers were elected for the doctoral and master’s commencement ceremonies in May. Kenia Collins ScM’25, who earned a master’s in health care leadership last summer, and Melanie Ortiz-Alvarez de la Campa GS, a doctoral candidate in pathobiology, will speak at their respective ceremonies.
Collins and Ortiz-Alvarez were each elected from a pool of three pre-selected nominees. At the meeting, candidates delivered a three minute excerpt of their commencement speech before the council voted to select the speaker.
The council first voted on the speaker for master’s commencement after hearing speeches from Collins, Jasmine Warren MPH’26 and Lailah Williams MPA’26. The GSC executive board members abstained from voting for the master’s speaker because Warren is currently the board’s chair of master’s advocacy.
In her speech, Collins spoke about the sacrifices her family made to set her on the path toward becoming a graduate student at Brown, pointing to her childhood of being raised by a single immigrant mother. She encouraged listeners to remain confident in themselves, regardless of their background.
Warren, a master’s student in the Health Equity Scholars program, described the graduate experience at Brown as a time of exploration and quiet resilience. Even through times of fear, grief and uncertainty, she said Brown students form a community that always bounces back.
In the next speech, Williams compared the life of a graduate student to a mosaic, emphasizing that everyone is different, resilient and made up of their own unique experiences.
After selecting Collins, the group then listened to speeches by Ortiz-Alvareza, Steven Creech GS and Meg Shieh PhD’26 for the doctoral commencement ceremony.
Ortiz-Alvarez honored their past as a first-generation Puerto Rican and Cuban scholar. In their speech, they described how they used to believe that getting a PhD was a way to prove that their family’s sacrifices were worthwhile. But, instead, they realized that the degree didn’t mean nearly as much as their experiences as a graduate student.
Creech gave a more unconventional speech, splitting his talk into parts addressing the past, present and future — each part beginning with a different knock-knock joke. He addressed the importance of showing up for one another, building relationships and looking forward to what the future holds after graduate school.
In the final candidate speech, Shieh — who successfully defended her chemistry PhD last month — emphasized the importance of resilience, persistence and dedication. She drew a parallel between conducting research and being a parent, as researchers build and support their projects until they are published and sent into the world.
After the votes, GSC President Kevin LoGiudice ScM’21 GS said that select members of the GSC will meet with President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 to share feedback on key University topics, and he encouraged students to let him know of any issues to bring up at the meeting.
“We have some … key points that we definitely want to bring up, such as communication to graduate students, the lack of our voice being heard in general,” LoGiudice said. “They say a lot and they don’t do what they say.”
The University did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
LoGiudice also explained the rules to declare candidacy for the GSC executive board. Candidates must apply with a campaign poster by April 28. The election for the next board will take place in May.
Ian Ritter is a university news and science & research editor, covering graduate schools and students. He is a junior concentrating in chemistry. When he isn’t at The Herald or exploding lab experiments, you can find him playing the clarinet or watching the Mets.
