The pillars of 2019
At Washington University in St. Louis, we are committed to diversity, global engagement, innovation and entrepreneurship, human health and sustainability. So are our graduating students. As the Class of 2019 prepares to take its final pass through Brookings Quadrangle, we celebrate outstanding graduates who embody these values. They leave Washington University poised to improve the world just as they improved our community.
Celebrate with us May 17, 2019: commencement.wustl.edu
Sustainability: Building resilient cities
Cities are both a leading cause and victim of global climate change, but they also hold great promise. Meet Marissa Lerner (left) and Alexis Vidaurreta, two friends and graduating senior who share their optimism and respective visions for cities that protect people and resources.
Innovation: Started as dreamers, ended as doers
Meet Guangming Zhao (left), who will take his WashU degree into a career that he hopes will improve the lives of others. Zhao is developing an imaging sensor that ultimately may be able to detect disease.
Global impact: From WashU to the world
Jiyeon Kim, a School of Law degree candidate, plans a career focused on health and technology law and policy. ROTC officer Haley Allen (left) will take her degree in international studies in Arts & Sciences into the U.S. Army, where she hopes to serve in Africa after she completes helicopter training.
Diversity: College access for all
Robert Sagastume (left) once was undocumented. Today, he wants to break down barriers for immigrants. James Schisler, who grew up in a town of 4,216, is working to help rural students like himself navigate higher education. Both students want to give back to the community that helped them succeed.
Human health: Helping people through medicine
Medical student Weston McCarron (left, in blue) says his low-income rural roots and family trauma put him on a path to emergency medicine. Cameron Hill connected with people at a St. Louis jail and proposed changes to the bail system. Two Class Acts making a difference in human health.
Community: Rebuilding one building, one person at a time
Meet Ryan A. Wilson (left) and Terri Williams, two students who will pick up master’s degrees from the Sam Fox School and University College, respectively. Each will use their graduate degrees to rebuild the communities from which they came, one building, one person at a time.