Before I get into my speech I just wanted to say that I’m so beyond grateful to be here on this stage. I invited my family here this weekend to participate in commencement activities. One thing they weren’t expecting, however, was to see me up here. For the last month or so, I’ve kept this little secret of being the Commencement Speaker, so little do you all know you were all part of a bit of a surprise today. I just wanted to extend my thanks and graciousness to them.
When finishing high school in 2014, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after I graduated, but I knew I didn’t want to stay in my hometown of Auburn, CA while I figured it out. Because of this, I joined the Army, and JBLM was my first duty station after finishing training. It meant a lot to be stationed here, as my grandfather was also assigned to Fort Lewis many years ago. I just wish he would have mentioned how much time I’d be spending trying to keep my gear dry.
University of Puget Sound student Julia Kaeppel ’24 has always been interested in computer programming. As a kid, she was a member of her elementary school robotics team and got hooked on programming in middle school as a pathway toward making video games. Kaeppel’s lifelong interest in operating systems and programming later led to an exciting research opportunity at Puget Sound.
On a recent Thursday afternoon, students in University of Puget Sound’s Connections 375: The Art & Science of Color class were split into two groups. One group combined various chemicals to produce Prussian blue—the first modern, synthetic blue pigment—while the other group foraged outside to find the ingredients to create ochre—one of the oldest naturally-derived pigments.
From Ancient Myth to Jazz History, Puget Sound provides a wide selection of Summer Term courses available in two sessions between May and July. Enrolled students have the opportunity to stay on campus for in-person or hybrid classes while experiencing summertime in Tacoma. Students can also enjoy the flexibility that fully remote courses have to offer.
Last summer, English major Rowan Baiocchi ’25 skipped the stress of making room in a semester schedule by knocking out their core curriculum requirements in math and science through summer course offerings.
When Logan Day ’15 first set foot at the University of Puget Sound with plans of playing baseball and becoming an English teacher, he had no idea he would find himself working for a renewable energy start-up company. After switching majors a few times, Day graduated with a double major in business and comparative sociology. Employment brought him to Portland, Oregon where he landed a job in the human resources department at Nike thanks to a connection from another Puget Sound alum.
For Abby Steward ’25, “glamping” was as close as her family ever got to outdoor adventure during her childhood in Oregon. So when her summer research at Puget Sound took her not only out into the woods to camp for 10 straight days, but 60 feet up into the canopy of bigleaf maples, “it really tested my capabilities,” Steward says. “I was thrown into something completely new. Being able to witness what my body could do in climbing that many trees felt amazing.”
“They get so confused sometimes when they see that it’s a woman who’s doing this,” Lily Godwin ’26 said a couple months back. She was doing a TV interview with local station KING5 about an accomplishment like no other— becoming the first woman to make an unassisted tackle in NCAA football history.
Tacoma, Wash. — For the third year in a row, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs recognized the University of Puget Sound as one of the colleges and universities with the highest number of students selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
