Pointing towards the future: Jarred Neal ’25 celebrates his BA in Leadership and Organizational Studies (BALOS) at the 2025 Graduate and Professional Studies Commencement ceremony. BALOS is a "Bachelor's Completion" program in the Kalmanovitz School of Education designed to build skills applicable beyond the workplace, with students who are often working professionals. / Photo by Bryan Navarro
‘Find our Way by Being Willing to Get Lost’: Saint Mary’s Graduate and Professional Studies Commencement 2025
“Treat the problems we face as opportunities for intelligent and creative action,” Dr. Pedro Noguera urges graduates. “Creativity is your superpower, and not even AI can replicate it.”
This is part of a series of stories on Saint Mary’s Commencement 2025. Check out Undergraduate Commencement 2025 and enjoy the video recap below:
On the cool, overcast morning of Sunday, May 26, Saint Mary’s College Stadium slowly filled with warmth—not just from the sun breaking through the clouds, but from the joy and pride of families, friends, and loved ones gathered to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the Saint Mary’s Graduate and Professional Studies Class of 2025.
For some 325 graduates, the day represented the culmination of a challenging and rewarding academic journey. Having earned certificates, credentials, and advanced degrees—including doctoral candidates who were formally hooded onstage in a time-honored tradition—they celebrated with warm embraces and frequent cheers. The air was alive with broad smiles, laughter, and heartfelt congratulations as graduates prepared to step into new or expanded professional roles, poised to shape the future in countless meaningful ways.
Among the proud graduates were those from the School of Science, the School of Liberal Arts, the School of Economics and Business Administration, and the Kalmanovitz School of Education, representing the breadth and diversity of Saint Mary’s and its commitment to academic excellence and innovation.
In her invocation, Samantha Mae Flores ’12, EdS ’22, a Lasallian Scholar, implored her classmates to remember the families, friends, educators, mentors, and one another for their unwavering support and encouragement. “May we cherish those who love and appreciate us, and treasure their quiet acts of care and meaningful gestures, woven into the fabric of everyday life, that steadied us through our toughest moments,” said Flores.
A writer, a family counselor, and a business entrepreneur
Among those earning degrees were six graduates from just the second-ever cohort to complete the Master of Science in Biotechnology at the School of Science. In addition, a variety of educators, counselors, writers, dancers, communicators, and business leaders crossed the stage, where, along with being presented with their degrees, they received a congratulatory handshake from President Roger Thompson and their School dean. Here are three of those students.
Victoria Jaenson ’25, a contemporary ballet dancer originally from Uganda and now based in Tennessee, first discovered Saint Mary’s LEAP (Liberal Education for Arts Professionals) program through social media several years ago. After completing the program online and graduating Summa Cum Laude, she traveled to Moraga for Commencement—her first visit to the campus.
“It was an amazing experience,” she said about her Saint Mary’s LEAP education. “This program was the perfect fit for me, and it came at just the right moment in my life.” Jaenson plans to continue her career as a dancer while also exploring opportunities beyond the stage. With a strong interest in international relations, she sees her degree as a springboard to future endeavors and is considering pursuing an advanced degree down the line.
Carter Stone MA ’25 earned a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and Professional Clinical Counseling and graduated with Honors, having first completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Nevada–Reno. He appreciated the variety of backgrounds and perspectives that were part of his Saint Mary’s journey.
“This program was super special,” he said. “What makes it so unique is the diversity of people it brings together. I was on the younger end—26 when I started—and we had classmates in their 50s, people launching second careers, and individuals from a wide range of races, religions, sexual orientations, and backgrounds. It created a beautiful melting pot of perspectives that challenged and expanded my thinking in so many meaningful ways.”
Ty Madrigal ’19, MBA ’25 had a long baseball pitching career, first as a Gael undergraduate from 2016–20, then later in the professional ranks for teams in Mexico and the Chicago White Sox minor league system. But it’s been his time in Moraga where he felt most at home.
"I’ve spent 10 amazing years at Saint Mary’s, and this place really means a lot to me,” he says. “I’ve made some of my closest friends here and memories I’ll never forget."
Madrigal currently works as a sales associate for medical devices, and he sees his new MBA as a stepping stone for bigger and better things. “I see myself climbing up the ranks, maybe starting my own business,” he says. “This degree gives me a fresh start and a foundation that Saint Mary’s was able to provide.”
“Creativity is your superpower”
Pedro Noguera, PhD, the ceremony’s guest speaker, did not shy away from the societal problems and challenges that graduates are charged with tackling.
“The economy, politics, the environment, health—the obstacles we face are enormous and the uncertainty is palpable,” said Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. “The only thing we know for sure about the future of our planet is that it will be influenced and shaped by what we have done in the past. That should concern all of us because we have treated the earth like a garbage dump and extracted resources without any regard for the future.”
Noguera pivoted to a message of hope and optimism, imploring graduates to “be unafraid of trying new things” and to “aim higher” than merely working to advance their careers.
“Creativity is your superpower, and not even AI can replicate it,” he asserted to a cheering crowd. “The philosopher Bayo Akomolafe encourages us to find our way by being willing to get lost. By losing your way and deviating from your plans, you might just find your passion and your path to making a difference in the world.”
Noguera also earned enthusiastic applause from the graduates when he called himself “an unapologetic believer in DEI” and took a jab at those who have abandoned its principles.
“Diversity has always been a source of strength for this nation, and the concept of equity is integral to the American Dream because it’s about expanding opportunity and making up for past injustices,” he said. “Don’t all humans have a God-given right to belong and be included?”
President Thompson delivered the salutation at Commencement for the first time as president of Saint Mary’s College, and spoke to the theme of new graduates writing the narratives of their lives: “You’ve earned your degree, and with it, a blank page where you will continue writing your own story,” he said. “You now speak a language only you fully understand. This is the language of your own story.
“You’ve begun writing a personal manual—one built from success and struggle, achievement, and misstep. You know what worked, and what didn’t. Only you truly understand what it took to get here—to this moment as a Saint Mary’s graduate.
“Keep writing that story. It is still unfolding, and you are its sole author.”
Graduate and Professional Studies Commencement 2025: Tenacity, Vigor, and Triumph
Photos by Bryan Navarro
