Which Graduating Students Were Selected as Commencement Speakers?
One student logged more than 14,000 volunteer hours in the DeLand community. One was active in numerous campus organizations, including serving as Student Government president and vice president during the pandemic. Another has led workshops for teachers from Los Angeles to Lebanon.
Stetson has a longstanding tradition of selecting high-achieving graduates to serve as Commencement speakers, and it is a high honor to be chosen by students, faculty and administrators.
Five students were selected to speak at the three Spring 2022 Commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday, May 6-7. Each comes with an impressive resume before they even graduate with their Stetson degree.
One, for example, has interned for three of the Big Four accounting firms and has a job lined up with one of them after graduation. And lastly, one speaker has devoted countless hours to volunteering in local schools, sharing her passion with students in music classes and other subjects.
The keynote speakers for Stetson’s 136th annual Commencement are:
• Waleed Ikram and Robert J. Voges will give the student addresses at Graduate Commencement on Friday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Spec Martin Memorial Stadium in DeLand.
Ikram will receive a Master of Accountancy, a year after graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting on a full-tuition scholarship. A native of Islamabad, Pakistan, he has interned at three of the Big Four accounting firms — Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG —and will start work after graduation with Ernst & Young in the assurance practice while pursuing a CPA license.
Voges, who is graduating with an Educational Specialist degree, is a professional educator, speaker and workshop facilitator. He has led workshops for teachers from Los Angeles to Lebanon with a blend of research and humor. A leader at Ormond Beach Middle School, he focuses his research on social emotional learning and classroom practice. He describes himself as a “mediocre husband,” with an amazing wife, four children and four beautiful grandchildren.
• Joshua Finkelstein and Kerrington Heller will be the speakers for the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony for the School of Business Administration and the School of Music on Saturday, May 7, at 9 a.m. in Spec Martin stadium.
Finkelstein is graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Business Analytics. He has received many awards and recognitions while at Stetson. He served as Student Government Association president and vice president, as a volunteer tax preparer for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and as treasurer and co-vice president of Hillel, the Jewish student organization. After graduation, he will attend the University of Michigan to earn a Master of Accounting degree and hopes to obtain a CPA license.
Heller, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Music Education, has also been active in a number of campus organizations, including serving on the social media team for the National Association for Music Education (Collegiate) and the School of Music. She also served in various officer positions for Alpha Xi Delta and volunteered through her sorority, raising money for such nonprofits as The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia and Food Brings Hope. She often volunteers at local schools, including in music classes, and hopes to have her own music classroom after graduation.
• D’Angelo Brown will be the student speaker at the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences on Saturday, May 7, at 7 p.m. in Spec Martin stadium.
Brown is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and American Studies and will pursue a career in governmental affairs after graduation. He will intern this summer with The Politics Company in Washington, D.C., to assist in consulting, fundraising and developing messaging for political campaigns. He hopes to earn a master’s degree and increase his knowledge of politics in the nation’s capital. While at Stetson, he was an active volunteer and campus leader, logging more than 14,000 hours of community service through the Bonner Program and serving as a WISE leader and role model to incoming first-year students.
Read more about Spring 2022 Commencement on Stetson Today or visit the university’s Commencement website.
