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Erica Brandt, left,聽who聽will receive her Master鈥檚 in occupational therapy,聽will聽be the speaker at the graduate commencement ceremony on Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. in the Event Center. A native of Medina, Ohio, Brandt graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2003 with a B.A. in sociology. After spending 12 years raising three children as a stay at home mom, she earned an associate鈥檚 degree as an occupational therapy assistant. Brandt worked聽in the field and loved that experience, which led her to pursuing her master鈥檚聽at Le Moyne. Her goal is to practice OT in an acute care or outpatient rehab setting.

The undergraduate ceremony speaker will be聽Ivy Santana, a criminology major with minors in Spanish and gender and women’s studies, who is originally from the Dominican Republic and grew up in Queens, N.Y. After graduation she will work聽for a year聽as a paralegal聽at a law firm in Syracuse and then聽attend聽Syracuse University to pursue her law degree.

During her time on the Heights,聽Santana聽served聽as an RA, as vice president of student development聽for聽the Student Government Association, as president of the Council of Honor Societies and聽as聽co-president of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society for the First Year.聽A聽CSTEP Scholar聽who was in the聽Integral Honors Program,聽she聽interned with Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter and the Kings County Federal Court through the Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program.

Her message to her classmates? 鈥淜eep your eyes on the prize and use the last four years as a reminder that we are stronger than we think, and together we聽were聽able to make it through the finish line. But most importantly, I would like to remind the class of 2023 of their resiliency, and their ability to adapt to change and succeed through it.鈥�