For the graduating Class of 2024, an undercurrent of resilience and adaptability is a throughline in the journey to Commencement. On the Class of 2024 page, Penn Today has highlighted the achievements and hard work of many undergraduate and graduate students throughout the 2023-24 academic year. From student-athletes to community advocates, innovators and educators, what unites this mix of students is how they made the most of what Penn has to offer, and gave back to the Penn community in turn.
Trevian Ambroise finished his final year as a graduate student in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design while serving as a graduate student ambassador, and learning not just from Penn but the city of Philadelphia as an ideal place for studying economic development techniques to become a well-rounded planner. The fourth-year distance swimmer Anna Kalandadze is graduating with a degree in biology and environmental science. The champion swimmer hopes to stick to the water and pursue marine biology, specifically coral ecology. Chandler McClesky experienced the best of both worlds as a student and teaching assistant, learning from professors while honing his own understanding of business communication. Two Penn Carey Law students capped the last semester of their law school journey winning the 2024 Thurgood Marshall Moot Court regionals.
Janice Kim will graduate as the first Penn student to have a dual degree in computer science and design. Jordan Obi served as Penn women’s basketball’s “quiet leader.” Zach Koung, who seeks better conversations across differences, says “conversations that don’t leave people feeling isolated, but instead leave people feeling seen.” Toby Johnson, Vicki Swanson, and Hongyang Zhao are getting their graduate degrees from the Graduate School of Education, and spent their time at Penn with the community’s youngest learners through partnerships with elementary schools in West Philadelphia.
Oulaya Louaddi served as president of Minorities in Nursing Organization, advocating for fellow Middle Eastern and North African students. Deborah Olatunji began as a nursing major, and during her four years pushed herself outside of her comfort zone by taking classes in disciplines outside of nursing, switched to psychology and started a podcast. Amanda Yagerman is graduating with a degree in history and English and, in graduating the Navy ROTC program, she says “I get to enter the military as an officer.” The ROTC program also paid her tuition in full. Victor Ayeni, a big proponent of community engagement, became involved with Penn Medicine outreach groups like the “Cut Hypertension” program, which provides blood pressure screenings to increase community awareness about hypertension, especially among Black men in whom it is prevalent. On Match Day, he and the graduating class in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine opened their letters to find at which schools, and in which cities, their next journey would be.
