UofL President Kim Schatzel will preside at the event and Melissa Johnson, a graduate student from the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, and outstanding Air Force leader, will be the student speaker.

The ceremony will be broadcast live at .

This year’s commencement will feature a with a walk-out song set to “Joker and the Thief,” a popular tune already familiar to Cardinal fans from athletic events. The Student Government Association initiative was created by students, for students and is a collective way for graduates to mark their transition from student to alumnus.

In addition, 50 graduates are expected to attend the ‘s doctoral hooding and graduation ceremony at 2 p.m. on the same day. The ceremony will be held on the Belknap Campus in the Swain Student Activities Center Ballroom, second floor. Schatzel will preside.

For more information, visit .

Two of their peers, Alexandra Hicks-Chambers and Sarah Taheri, will speak at Hicks-Chambers is graduating with a degree in nursing and Taheri with a degree in mechanical engineering.

UofL News caught up with them to find out more about their time here, what they plan to speak about during the Commencement ceremony and what their plans are next. 

UofL News: What was the best part of your UofL experience? What will you miss the most?

Taheri: The best part of my UofL experience was the amazing faculty I was fortunate enough to learn from. It is because of them that I have found my life’s calling, and I wouldn’t be the person or engineer I am today without them. And Dairy Kastle. I will miss Dairy Kastle.

Hicks-Chambers: My favorite part of the UofL experience was going from a blind undergraduate, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life, and ending up with a clear vision and plan for the rest of my life. I will miss my fellow nursing students and nursing faculty members the most – they are who I grew with and I will always carry a part of them with me.

UofL News: What do you plan to talk about in your speech?

Taheri: I’m going to talk about how UofL has given me so many amazing opportunities that I wouldn’t have had at any other university. In Speed School I found a community where I could thrive and belong and attending UofL was the best decision I could have made. They believed in me when no one else did, including myself.

�ᾱ�����-��󲹳��������:��I plan to talk about the importance of integrity and focus on how it’s not important to have all the answers, but as long as you’re honest to yourself and those around you, you can’t be wrong.

UofL News: What do you want your peers to take away from your speech?

Taheri: I want my peers, especially young women, to not doubt themselves or their capabilities when facing new challenges. They are amazing and brilliant and can do extraordinary things if they take that first leap.

�ᾱ�����-��󲹳��������:��I want my peers to see the importance in doing the right thing even when no one is around to validate it.

UofL News: What are your plans after graduation?

Taheri: I will be attending Stanford University to get my Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering.

�ᾱ�����-��󲹳��������:��My plans after graduation involve accepting my offer to be an emergency department nurse, pass the NCLEX exam, finish my EMT license and be the best darn nurse I can be.

UofL Commencement is Saturday, May 11 at the KFC Yum Center. Two ceremonies will be held: one at 10 a.m. and another at 2 p.m.

A recipient of the Woodford R. Porter and Brown Fellows scholarships, Shontee graduated last year from UofL in the top 1 percent of her class with a bachelor of mechanical engineering degree. This year, she will receive her master’s degree. The 2012 duPont Manual grad has served on numerous student organizations, including the UofL chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, Speed School’s Women in Engineering Leadership Conference and the Miss Black UofL Scholarship Pageant. As a Brown Fellows scholar, she created a summer camp for minority girls to help get them involved in STEM fields.

“My education and academics in general are very important to me, and that’s one thing I’ve always been very driven about. As far as activities and organizations I’m involved with, academics is important there too because I like to see other people succeed academically. So I try to tailor my extracurriculars and things I’m involved with to helping other people succeed.”

In her free time, Shontee volunteers at the West End School as a tutor and mentor and grades calculus homework for professors in the Engineering Fundamentals department. She has received numerous recognitions for her outstanding work, including the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Award, the NBSC Louisville Chapter Award, the KSPE Service Award and Speed School’s Alfred T. Chen Award.

Conrad Smart, a 2013 graduate of Woodford County High School, is graduating with his bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics, anticipating a perfect 4.0 GPA. During his undergrad, he participated in various research projects with applications including nanomaterials, plasma physics and particle accelerators. His work has taken him to the laboratories of UCLA and Cornell University as an undergraduate research assistant.

“The University Physics and Astronomy department has been pivotal in my development as a scientist. In the mentorships, the opportunities, the community as a whole, I have watched students, including myself, become independent and creative thinkers. My peers and my faculty in the department have constantly provided me new and interesting stimulation necessary to bring a young student into the scientific fields.”

Smart is a recipient of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, James Graham Brown Scholarship and the Dean’s Scholarship, and has participated twice in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduate Programs. When he’s not trying to unravel the universe’s secrets, Smart enjoys playing saxophone, ballroom dancing and hiking.

Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 13 at the KFC Yum! Center beginning at 10 a.m.