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RIT students have more than 300 clubs and organizations to choose from today. There are also 24 varsity athletics teams and numerous intramural sports, among other groups. For many students, these extracurricular activities are a great way to try something new, find a niche, and build lasting relationships.

WXXI features the four recipients of honorary degrees from RIT, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

RIT will confer honorary degrees to four outstanding individuals at its 2022 commencement ceremony on May 6: Kimberly Bryant, founder of the nonprofit organization Black Girls CODE; Josephine King Olsen, former director of the Peace Corps; G. Peter Jemison, a member of the Heron clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians; and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine.

Kimberly Bryant, founder of the nonprofit organization Black Girls CODE, will be the keynote speaker for RIT’s Academic Convocation ceremony starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 6, in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center.

Commencement ceremonies for more than 4,100 RIT students begin today and continue through Sunday, enabling graduating students to don their regalia, walk across a stage, and be acknowledged by administrators for their milestone achievements despite a global pandemic.

More than 50 students are expected to earn their Ph.D. degrees by the end of June. The hooding ceremony, which will also include Ph.D. recipients in the class of 2020, is May 15.

Unique Fair-Smith and Tymoni Correa-Buntley are the first two recipients of the Mark and Maureen Davitt Graduate Education Endowed Scholarship and are both set to graduate with their master’s degrees this weekend.

Nearly 60 students will graduate this May from the College of Health Sciences and Technology’s clinical programs—physician assistant BS/MS, diagnostic medical sonography BS, and the echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound) certificate program. These students spend the final year of their programs immersed in practical work experience at clinics and hospitals in the region.

Nick Renzoni, a management information systems (MIS) major and communication minor from Holden, Mass., is following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Like his grandfather and many of his RIT classmates, Renzoni has decided to pursue a master’s degree directly after completing his undergraduate education.  

Forty members of the inaugural class of Undergraduate Research Scholar Awardees will be honored at this year’s graduation ceremonies. The recognition highlights their accomplishments in a variety of complex and demanding research areas during their time at RIT.

Monika Verma has dedicated her capstone project to COVID patients across the world, after the pandemic hit too close to home for her last year. The graduating human-computer interaction master’s student is drawing from her family’s experience with COVID in hopes of finding ways to help others in similar situations.

Laura Discavage originally wanted to go to an out-of-state college, but RIT’s engineering program intrigued her. She learned about RIT while growing up from her mom, Maria Burgio ’87 (computer science). And after a conversation with a family friend about his work as an industrial engineer, she applied to RIT, and found the community she was seeking.