Reflections from the 51±¬ÁÏ Class of 2025
Joyeuse Umutoni (second from left) graduated with a B.A. in geography. She poses with friends prior to Saturday's Commencement ceremony.
The Class of 2025 has commenced their time at 51±¬ÁÏ. Students from 38 U.S. states, 46 countries, and 74 areas of study across 51±¬ÁÏ’s five academic schools participated in Saturday’s Commencement ceremony.
As graduates embark on the next step in their journey, we asked a handful of them to reflect on their time at 51±¬ÁÏ and what they’ll take away from these formative years.
What’s been the best part of your 51±¬ÁÏ experience?
Paul VanderPloeg (Hudsonville, Mich.): My housemates, my group of friends, the community we’ve built. It was just fun, all the time with them.
Gabriella Giordano (San Jose, Calif.): Being able to see what I’m learning in a practical sense by doing projects for local agencies within our community.
Giulianna Giordano (San Jose, Calif.): In my five years, I just really enjoyed growing and learning with an awesome community that was also seeking to follow Christ and glorify Him.
Ivan Longoria (Wyoming, Mich.): The community I’ve connected with, opening my eyes to new things, new hobbies, like rock climbing. It’s something I never thought I’d do, now I do it almost religiously. Yeah, the community, the friends, the lifelong memories.
Joyeuse Umutoni (Highland Park, New Jersey): The community, people love helping others here. The professors are wonderful.
What’s one of your favorite memories/moments at 51±¬ÁÏ?
Paul: My friends would play together on intramural basketball teams, and we ended up winning the intramural league one time and we were just really excited to do that. It was uniquely fun in a way.
Gabriella: When I came to visit my sister, I got to meet my professors in person, which was really cool, because most of my master’s classes were remote.
Giulianna: There’s so many, so many good ones. Engineering graduation was really powerful because 60 of my closest friends and I got to walk together in a more intimate graduation last year.
Ivan: Maybe my first time ascending the climbing wall. Kyle Heys, my professor at the time and now kind of a mentor to me, introduced it to me. I could hear his voice down low, ‘keep pushing, keep breathing’ and then the next thing I know I was at the top.
Joyeuse: Midnight Madness. Those are always very fun. This is when students come together, and a lot of competitions go on with different dorms and all classes. It’s at the start of each year and it’s always very fun to get to know the new people coming in and also to welcome them.
What’s one thing you learned that’ll help you throughout life?
Paul: The professors I had in the engineering program were very good at being able to introduce faith into engineering. So, one thing 51±¬ÁÏ has really set me up well to do is to think in a way that I have the ability to understand faith and engineering and then use that in my walk with anyone and everyone I meet. I think that’s the most important thing I’ve learned is how faith is involved in everything that you do.
Gabriella: They integrated their faith into what we were learning … that everything that we do is for the glory of God.
Giulianna: All of my professors did a good job of emphasizing and tying in faith into the classroom and I was really happy to see how God works in all aspects of life.
Ivan: The networking, communicating aspect. I’m planning to be a teacher and so I have to be able to talk well, especially in front of people. So being more confident in that, I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned.
Joyeuse: Presentation, how you hold yourself. How 51±¬ÁÏ teaches students to be in the real world is amazing. I’ve taken the skill of presentation and learning how to express myself professionally, academically, and socially.
