It’s time for our senior Warhawks to reach new heights outside the sacred walls of UW-Whitewater. This semester’s spring commencement ceremony will take place Saturday, May 13 in the Kachel Fieldhouse of the Williams Center.

The doors open to the Williams Center will open at 7:30 a.m. and to the fieldhouse at 8:30 a.m. The first ceremony at 10 a.m. will be for the undergraduates and graduates of the College of Arts and Communication and the College of Business and Economics. The second ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. for the College of Education and Professional Studies, the College of Letters and Sciences and the College of Integrated Studies. The Rock County campus will hold its commencement ceremony in the gymnasium of the Wells Cultural Center at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, 2023. No tickets are required, and free parking is available.

Tickets are available for students to pick up through May 12 as wrist bands that are correlated with two ceremonies: purple for the 10 a.m. event and white for the 3 p.m. event. Each guest is required to wear one of these and will not be allowed to enter without one. Inside the fieldhouse there is no food nor drinks allowed and large items will be checked before entry. The seats are first come first serve, as there are many students graduating at these times. 

This year’s commencement speaker is alumni Michael Domitrz. Additionally graduating seniors Hollyn Peterson will provide a speech in the morning and Davin Stavroplos in the afternoon. 

“When you have people supporting your journey on campus it makes all the difference,” said Domitrz. “My professors understood because I was pursuing my passion — the whole reason you go to business school.” 

His journey has focused on educating people about sexual assault and teaching students how to approach tough conversations. He created a business called the Center for Respect through which he shares his stories and knowledge on the importance of consent and respect. In 2022 Domitrz was inducted into the National Speakers Hall of Fame and continues to work hard to spread his knowledge with universities and schools. 

Student speaker Hollyn Peterson is earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in painting. She will be attending Syracuse University in the fall to go on for her master’s degree.

“Everything just fell into place,” said Peterson about her years at UW-Whitewater.

She is a cancer survivor and was able to complete her entire degree and work toward her goal of a masters. She will be speaking about her experience not only at UWW, but how she was impacted by those around her and how she has grown into a person. She is receiving a teaching certificate after student teaching throughout the final semester of school this year. 

Davin Stavroplos will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science as a first generation college student. He served in Whitewater Student Government as the president for the school year of 2021-2022 working to help the student fees for amenities. He plans to return to UW-W to get a master’s in the higher education leadership program. He will be speaking on his experience with the college and how he was affected by the community around him. 

“This place gave me a really awesome opportunity, because I wasn’t always the best student in high school. I feel obligated to pay it back.” said Stavroplos.

 To find out more information about him, visit: https://www.uww.edu/news/archive/2023-04-student-speaker-stavroplos. 

To find out more information about graduation visit: https://www.uww.edu/commencement. And for students, visit the Registrars office to pick up your graduation tickets and wristbands.