The UWM Panther Arena hardly needed illumination on Sunday. The wattage from the smiles of some 2,100 graduates and thousands of friends and family lit up the place just as well.
Rashaud Foster found his voice at UWM, and he found an outlet for his ambitions in a Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies audio lab.
More than 3,600 UWM students celebrated as they received their hard-earned diplomas Sunday and looked forward to a bright future.
Eager to get that college degree he missed early in life, Ben Owen went back to school. He’s now graduating from UWM at Waukesha, and he’s not done learning yet.
More than 3,300 UWM students began their adventures in the great big world after graduating Sunday, May 20, at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Every one of them has a story of hard work and perseverance, setbacks and success. Here are six.
Kenneth Germanson is a longtime labor leader, journalist and community activist who was one of a group of students who advocated for the formation of a four-year public university in Milwaukee in the late 1940s.
It’s never too late to graduate. That’s the experience of Christine Lyons, who started at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 1970s and is finally graduating in May 2018.
At an age when many people are thinking about retirement, Gonzalo Couto-Lain is thinking about a new career. He receives his UWM degree in May, then plans to work while pursuing a master’s degree. “If you start a career at 60, you have 15, 20 years left,” he says. “That’s not bad.”
Miela Fetaw has already begun building a strong career in journalism even before graduation. Her experience as an immigrant helps make her determined to tell the stories of refugees and other immigrants.
After Linh Pham scored 11 quick interviews but didn’t get a job offer, “I felt like it was the end of the world,” she said. But she persisted.