The 51在线 awarded more than 4,500 degrees during fall commencement. The ceremonies included recipients of approximately 3,282 undergraduate, 1,101 master鈥檚 and 161 doctoral degrees.
The group features 41 undergraduate students earning a perfect 4.0 GPA and 155 student veterans, and includes graduates from 49 states and 84 nations. At 18 years old, the youngest graduate earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biomedical sciences. The oldest graduate, who is 76 years old, received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in history.
USF President Rhea Law presided over all ceremonies, which were held at the Yuengling Center on the Tampa campus.
Boundless Bulls:
Vivian Mills
Doctorate in behavioral and community sciences
Vivian Mills鈥� personal experiences as a biological mother, adoptive mother of four and foster mother to five more children inspired her to pursue research in child welfare policy. Mills鈥� education and career made her realize that she wanted to impact macro-level change in the child welfare system. Mills earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree in elementary education (鈥�01) and master鈥檚 in social work (鈥�19) and is now completing her doctoral degree in behavioral and community sciences 鈥� all from USF.
During the pandemic, Mills鈥� found balancing her work, studies and parenting to be challenging. This led her to consider other interventions to help children in foster care, such as providing biological and foster parents with stronger support systems to help them manage the challenges they face. Mills鈥� work has prepared her with the knowledge needed for the change she hopes to make. After graduating, Mills will apply her expertise in child and family studies as a postdoctoral scholar at the 51在线 Institute for Child Welfare at 51在线 State University.
DANYLO SOLOMENTSEV
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MARKETING
Danylo Solomentsev persevered through several major challenges during his academic journey. In 2017, Solomentsev left his home in Ukraine to pursue his studies at USF. He was 16 years old and was determined to learn more about American culture, marketing and business culture. He studied marketing at the Muma College of Business while also pursuing an online bachelor鈥檚 degree in Ukraine. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his studies and internship plans in the U.S., which prompted Solomentsev鈥檚 return to Ukraine. Solomentsev refers to the period as the 鈥渓ong pandemic break鈥� where he worked and waited for the opportunity to resume his studies in person.
Solomentsev returned to Tampa in January 2022, just a few weeks before the Russia-Ukraine war began. The event divided Solomentsev鈥檚 life in two. Solomentsev鈥檚 mother fled for safety but the rest of his family stayed in Ukraine. Despite the constant news of the war, Solomentsev remained focused on completing his assignments and staying on track to graduate. He also sought ways to help Ukrainians affected by the war. Solomentsev teamed up with a small group of Ukrainian and Russian friends at USF and used his marketing skills to help coordinate a campaign that raised more than $7,000 for humanitarian relief. Solomentsev and the team designed branded items such as wristbands, stickers and cupcakes and secured suppliers for tabling and event efforts. After graduation, Solomentsev plans to pursue a master鈥檚 degree at USF.
JUSTICE POWE
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN HEALTH SCIENCES
Ever since Justice Powe was in high school, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in prosthetics or orthotics. She first learned about the career path during a bio-engineering class at Hillsborough Community College. Her instructor noticed how much Powe enjoyed drawing and showed her a custom-designed rose gold prosthetic leg. Since then, Powe has been driven to the STEM field with the goal of applying her creativity as well as being an inspiration for her community.
Powe excitedly applied to USF after receiving an invitation from the , a partnership-based group focused on enhancing the educational and leadership opportunities for Black and African-American students through scholarships and programs. As a BLN scholar, Powe鈥檚 experience at USF was filled with learning and leadership opportunities that made her bloom. Powe credits her 鈥淏LN Family'' for helping her learn about financial literacy, building a professional resume and always having a community to rely on. She also became very active as a student and served as a member in several organizations including the Black Student Union, the USF gospel choir, the Black Female Development Circle and Coalition of Black Organizational Leaders. After graduation, Powe will take a gap semester and prepare to resume her graduate studies in fall 2023.
YANIRIS GARCIA-JEREZ
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PSYCHOLogy
Born in the Dominican Republic, immigrated to the United States with her mother when she was just three years old. Growing up, Garcia-Jerez struggled with anxiety and depression and felt "insecure" and "stupid" when, in high school, she struggled to find the motivation to complete certain assignments. Everything changed two years ago when, at age 20, she was diagnosed with ADHD while attending USF.
As Garcia-Jerez, who is the first in her family to attend college, prepares to graduate debt-free with a degree in psychology from the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, her vision for the future is clear. She wants to work with others 鈥� children, teens and young adults with disabilities 鈥� who struggle with their mental health in academic settings. In the meantime, Garcia-Jerez plans to be kind to herself, to continue her work at USF World, where she advises students on study abroad opportunities 鈥� like the one she took part in this summer in Florence, Italy 鈥� and to apply to graduate programs. She has her sights set on USF's Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling program.
SETH LESKANIC
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN FINANCE
has had a personal connection with the USF St. Petersburg campus since he was a kid fishing the waters on the edge of campus. Now he is graduating from his hometown university with a perfect 4.0 GPA and is being recognized as a King O鈥橬eal Scholar, which is awarded by the .
With an end goal of going to law school, Leskanic came to USF unsure of his undergraduate focus. He grew up learning the importance of personal finance from his parents and was responsible for paying for his car and other bills. This eventually led to an interest in finance. His experience pursuing a degree in the field at the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance, with professors he called 鈥渁mazing, knowledgeable, helpful and courteous,鈥� left an indelible mark, so much so that he now plans to direct his legal education towards the financial realm. Now his sights are set on attaining a law degree and an MBA in the coming years, with the goal of becoming an attorney for either a financial firm or for a government regulatory agency.
ALEXIA CASTELLON
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BIOLOGY AND HEALTH SCIENCES
While pursuing dual degrees, producing a podcast on race and equity and working as a resident assistant, also had to worry about her family in Fort Myers, who evacuated to a shelter during Hurricane Ian. Castellon was supposed to join them as the hurricane approached but wanted first to help students evacuate from campus. By the time she ensured all resident students had a plan in place, it was not safe to drive the two hours back home. So instead, she rode out the storm safely on the. In the end, the Castellon family was fortunate to have only minor damage to their home, but they lived without power for the next two weeks and struggled to feed their large family. With limited communication, it was challenging at times for Alexia to focus on the demands of classes and extracurricular activities.
During her four years on the USF St. Petersburg campus, Castellon has grown into a confident and involved student. She鈥檚 a member of the Chancellor鈥檚 Leadership Council, Student of Color Advisory Board and a volunteer at Mi Gente MI Pueblo, a nonprofit organization in the Tampa Bay area that helps Latine families continue to plant roots and call this area home. Castellon鈥檚 Bolivian American heritage also inspired her to create a podcast at USF called 鈥淐hips with SOCAB.鈥� The platform allows students to speak their truths about important issues on campus and in the community involving diversity, equity and inclusion. After graduation, Castellon will take a semester off and volunteer at a local hospital. After that, she hopes to become a nurse and attend the nursing program on the St. Petersburg campus.
CEREMONY INFORMATION
Friday, Dec. 9
6:30 p.m.: Bachelor鈥檚 degree recipients from the colleges of Behavioral and Community Sciences, Muma College of Business, Education, The Arts and the Office of Undergraduate Studies (approximately 690 graduates expected to attend).
Saturday, Dec. 10
9 a.m.: Bachelor鈥檚 degree recipients from the following departments of the College of Arts and Sciences: Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications; Anthropology; Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology; Integrative Biology; Chemistry; Economics; School of Geosciences; School of Information; School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies; Journalism and Digital Communication; Mathematics and Statistics; Physics; Psychology; School of Public Affairs; Sociology; and Women鈥檚 and Gender Studies (approximately 820 graduates expected to attend).
1:30 p.m.: Bachelor's degree recipients from the colleges of Engineering, Nursing, and Public Health, and from the following departments of the College of Arts and Sciences: Communication, English, History, Humanities and Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and World Languages (approximately 720 graduates expected to attend).
6:30 p.m.: Master鈥檚, educational specialist and doctoral degree recipients from all colleges (approximately 720 graduates expected to attend).