2024 Winter Commencement: A day of reflection, celebration and advice

Prisha Bhadra said her journey to graduate from UC Berkeley began long before she set foot on campus. Her parents, who immigrated from India, “left behind familiarity, security, and every single loved one they had” to give her the chance to choose her own path. For students with immigrant roots, she said, “This moment feels bigger than just us. It’s the product of generations of hope. … This degree doesn’t just belong to me. It belongs to them.”

Bhadra, who majored in political science and minored in South Asian studies, represented more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students as the student speaker for the Class of 2024 Winter Commencement in Haas Pavilion on Dec. 21. Nearly 9,000 guests cheered the graduates on as their names were called and they walked across the court — often pausing to dance, take a selfie, or wave to proud onlookers. 

Later in the ceremony, Chancellor Rich Lyons presented the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award to Khadija Bakhtiar, who received a master’s degree in public policy in 2010. The award annually honors a UC Berkeley alum with a distinguished record of service to another country. Bakhtiar founded Teach For Pakistan, which has recruited 600 talented young Pakistani graduates to teach more than 30,000 students in high-need public schools. She has also catalyzed a national movement to eliminate educational inequity and push for government investment in teacher-leadership models.

Commenting on her journey — which began at Berkeley, where she learned about Teach For America — Bakhtiar said that people didn’t think the program would work in Pakistan “because children from low-income backgrounds can’t make such rapid progress, or because public schools and school systems are too far gone to change,” she said. “It felt like I could see what lies beyond the mountain but others couldn’t.”

But staying the course has reaped rewards. “I would have missed the moment where students are no longer ‘beneficiaries’ of a teaching program but ask in every school and classroom I visit, … ‘Tell us how we can help the larger movement,’” she said. “I might not have seen the young people who were floundering and overwhelmed in their first months teaching grow to become school leaders, teacher trainers, entrepreneurs, [or] government advisers supporting learning for hundreds of thousands kids.” 

In his remarks, Chancellor Lyons encouraged graduates to consider all that they will carry with them. “You value truth and know it must be protected. You believe in science. You know that conventional wisdom and the status quo can and must always be challenged in order to find a better way,” he said. “I can only hope you share the gratitude I feel for these attributes, values, and aspirations that form the foundation of all that Berkeley is and stands for.”

Below, a few graduates share their favorite memories, advice for future students, and other tidbits on their Berkeley experience. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Muki Barkan, Oakland, CA, law

Favorite class: A post-conviction and sentencing practicum with Chesa Boudin, the former district attorney of San Francisco. We got to help draft sentencing motions that the Alameda County DA would then file, and a good number of people who’d spent decades in prison got out because of it. That was pretty cool. 

Aha moment: I came in wanting to do tenants’ defense and tenants’ rights, and I worked for the East Bay Community Law Center for a summer. That was interesting, but I really found that criminal defense was what I preferred when a friend of mine was unfairly convicted in Marin County for all kinds of reasons. That really struck me.

Extracurricular activities: I had a job outside of campus. I had a community in Oakland, so I did food distribution that I’ve been doing since before I came here, and sometimes we organized care villages. I spend a lot of time hiking in the hills by Berkeley, foraging mushrooms. I’ve got my chanterelle spots up there. 

Lester Cedeño, San Bernardino, CA, integrative biology with an emphasis in human anatomy 

What you’ll miss most: The faculty. Every single one of the professors I had in integrative biology was so in tune with the courses that they teach and the wellness of their students. I’m going to miss that mentorship. 

Jamie Hernandez, San Bernardino, CA, integrative biology

Favorite class: California natural history. A few years ago the teacher took us to the UC natural reserve in Pt. Reyes. He had memorized like a thousand bird calls. During the trip he would stop the car, pull out the binoculars, and make us look at the birds. It was a really good experience. 

Monica Gomez, Vallejo, CA, integrative biology with an emphasis in wellness

What you’ll miss most: I appreciated all the libraries that we have here. They’re so big, and there are so many to choose from. 

Jenai Simons, transfer student from Diablo Valley College (via the East Coast), chemical engineering 

Favorite class: Chemical engineering lab was very intense. Every two weeks we had to come up with a whole new presentation, and it was the four of us. … Being in that program and class really strengthened our ability to move through this experience together. We weren’t as close as we are now. Now we depend on each other a lot. I wouldn’t have as strong of lifelong friends without a class like that. 

Zhen Liu, transfer student from Riverside City College (via China), chemical engineering 

Advice for future students: Form a study group and go to office hours. Just ask your professors or GSIs whatever you don’t know. For me the first year, I had to adapt to this kind of study style, because I usually like to study by myself. But I found that studying with other friends in the same class and going to office hours helped me a lot. 

Selin Musa, Sunnyvale, CA, computer science 

Favorite class: One of my favorite classes was outside of my major — political economy. We talked about how we play a role in the world. It changed my perspective on the world the most out of all the classes that I took. 

Aathavan Senthilkumar, Fremont, CA, mechanical engineering

Favorite class: Science fiction literature and media. Homework was watching movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and reading classic sci fi novels. I just had a really good time and met a lot of majors outside of mechanical engineering. It was one of the most memorable classes I took. 

Gurmehr Klair, San Jose, CA, mechanical engineering

Advice for future students: Take every opportunity possible because four years blow by faster than you realize. Don’t overload your plate. Do what makes sense, and take care of yourself. But if you have the chance to try something new, now is the time to do it because this is the most diverse crowd that you’ll ever be in. You’re around a great community of intellectuals, and everyone is really supportive of you trying new things. Also, take advantage of campus resources because I didn’t realize until now that I’m leaving just how much stuff I had access to.