{"id":133999,"date":"2025-05-15T14:47:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=133999"},"modified":"2025-05-15T16:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T20:04:21","slug":"graduate-medical-sciences-students-celebrated-at-may-15-convocation","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2025\/graduate-medical-sciences-students-celebrated-at-may-15-convocation\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Medical Sciences Students Celebrated at May 15 Convocation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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May 15, 2025<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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C. James McKnight<\/a>, PhD, associate provost and dean of Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine told graduate students receiving diplomas at the May 15 convocation that they were bright, ambitious, articulate and gifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour hard work here has prepared you and we are confident that you have the will, the courage and the tools that are necessary to make a difference in all of our futures,\u201d said McKnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour community will be your anchor, your strength and your lifeline. As the old African proverb goes, \u2018If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>Cynthia Ordo\u00f1ez Salguero<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe diploma you get today is the credential that grants you entry to the next stage of your life,\u201d said Karen Antman<\/a>, MD, BUMC provost and dean of the school of medicine, speaking to graduating students, their families, friends and faculty assembled for the GMS convocation ceremony at BU\u2019s Track & Tennis Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Makayla
Makayla Harris, celebrates her MA in mental health counseling & behavioral medicine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GMS awarded 35 master of arts, 322 master of science degrees, and five combined degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all leave here with something in common,\u201d said Joshua Kidwell, who graduated from the Master\u2019s in Medical Sciences<\/a> (MAMS) program and is headed to Creighton University School of Medicine to pursue his MD. He was one of three student speakers chosen by their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve grown into people who know how to show up, especially when it\u2019s hard. Who can make the leap, even when the outcome isn\u2019t certain\u2026Who trust ourselves and believe in our ability to make it happen,\u201d Kidwell said. \u201cNot because we are special, but because we believe anything is possible if we do the work and keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GMS
Master\u2019s students from Graduate Medical Sciences line up in the hallway of BU\u2019s Track & Tennis Center before their convocation ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Speaker Yousuf Al Naseri was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His parents immigrated to the U.S. to secure a better life for their children, Naseri said. Raised in Maryland, he graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a BS in biology, received his MS in oral health sciences<\/a> at the GMS ceremony and will matriculate into BU\u2019s Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything in life is a privilege. It is a privilege to study, to be able to invest in yourself, and it is a privilege that a school like Boston University takes a risk on you and opens all its doors for you to succeed,\u201d Naseri said. \u201cDuring the difficult moments of your future studies, careers, or research endeavors, I urge everyone to shift their perspective from viewing tasks as obligations, to recognizing them as privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShifting your mindset from \u2018I have to\u2019 to \u2018I get to\u2019 will transform your duties into opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve grown into people who know how to show up, especially when it\u2019s hard. Who can make the leap, even when the outcome isn\u2019t certain\u2026who trust ourselves and believe in our ability to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>Joshua Kidwell<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As an immigrant from Guatemala, Cynthia Ordo\u00f1ez Salguero, felt she had to be cautious of others and pretend everything was okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI developed all kinds of strategies to keep my family and me safe,\u201d she said. Graduating with an MA in mental health counseling<\/a>, Salguero noted that her role as a therapist meant letting go of those survival strategies. She found she had to change her internal script from survival to embracing the world, her community and the support they can give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Audience
Snapping a photo of graduates. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe the future will mirror the life you\u2019ve already known: beautiful and brutal, marked by soaring highs and crushing lows, sudden losses that shake you, and moments of joy that remind you why you keep going,\u201d said Salguero. \u201cYour community will be your anchor, your strength and your lifeline. As the old African proverb goes, \u2018If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

View<\/a> the Facebook album. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graduates told they have the will, the courage and the tools to make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":134007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[383,459,393,405],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[390],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/133999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133999"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/133999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143203,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/133999\/revisions\/143203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=133999"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=133999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}