Fars Woldai is graduating with a degree in advertising this spring. A first-generation college student, he was a part of the National Association of Black Journalists and the SOJC United Nations Team. He co-founded Global Citizens, a group that gives international and domestic students a chance to collaborate on real client projects. After Fars graduates, he will be taking an internship at Droga5 in New York City.

“What made my time at UO special,” he said, “was all the connections I made. I found my best friends here and the most supportive faculty at UO. I have forever friends and forever connections.”

Jazmine Council is graduating with a major in business administration and a minor in psychology. She has served on the membership development committee of her sorority, worked at The Duck Store, and served as a fan experience and promotions intern for the UO Athletic Department’s marketing office. Jazmine is inspired by our women’s basketball team because she can remember when only a few hundred people attended the games, and this season, fans packed Matthew Knight Arena!

Being a Duck, she says, “means being a part of something so much bigger than yourself. It means being a part of an incredibly passionate and supportive community.”

Alex Mentzel is graduating from Clark Honors College with a major in German literature and culture and a minor in theater arts. While a student at the UO, he acted in the TV series "Grimm" and "Glee," researched performance and dramaturgy in Frankfurt, and welcomed the class of 2022 as the student keynote speaker at Convocation. Alex also co-founded a conflict mapping app called Averto to warn members in Libya about conflicts in the area.

Xander Cuizon Tice is graduating from the School of Art + Design with a major in product design and minors in art and entrepreneurship. He has been interested in design since he was exposed at an early age to textiles, drawing, woodworking, metals, and art. When he arrived at the UO from Seattle, he realized his passion for design and began to create products.

Xander is on the Ultimate club team at the UO and was the Northwest player of the year in 2019. His favorite memory during his time at the UO is making the national championship semifinals when he was a junior.

Desirae Brown is graduating with a major in sociology and a minor in French. Desirae began her time at the university by living in the Umoja Black Scholars Academic Residential Community, a space she says, “helped me find community easily and connected me to resources that I still use as a senior.” She has been very involved on campus, being both the communications correspondent and co-director for Black Women of Achievement, a student advocate for her community for the Office of the Dean of Students and a McNair Scholar. Desirae says that the opportunity to study abroad made her undergraduate degree very special.

Iman Al Khachi is finishing her bachelor's degree with a major in public relations and a minor in economics. In addition to her studies, she worked as a tutor for student-athletes, as a teacher's assistant and as public relations practitioner for different professors. She also participated in the New Zealand Alternate Break program. Half Filipina and half Syrian, Iman is a first-generation college student and immigrant who has spent a lot of time at the UO learning Arabic.

One thing she's learned at the UO is how to “overcome navigating the world as a woman of color and creating my own foundation and connections.”