Tristan Ruiz has been selected as the student commencement speaker for the May 4 graduation ceremony at Northern Michigan University. Originally from Houston, Texas, Ruiz came to NMU to study biochemistry.
“I decided to study biochemistry because not only is it an interesting topic, but it helps people understand other topics as diverse as health, disease, genetics, evolution and DNA,” said Ruiz. “Deciding to study it at NMU was an easy decision, given the school's amazing science programs, the Honors Program and affordable tuition.”
During his time at NMU, Ruiz was a member of ASNMU student government for three years, serving as vice president for one semester and president for two years. He also was involved in the Student Leader Fellowship Program, ROTC and Superior Edge programs, and was on the board of directors of The North Wind student newspaper.
“After graduation, I plan on attending medical school in the fall and am waiting to hear back from a few schools regarding my acceptance into their programs,” said Ruiz.
Ruiz said the main theme of his commencement speech is reminiscing on a student's time in college and looking ahead to the future.
“I'm going to talk about remembering our time at NMU, remembering the people who support us, making the most of the time we have, and sharing our abilities with the world,” said Ruiz. “I think that adequately describes it.”
The graduation ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 4 in the Superior Dome. It will be broadcast live on WNMU-TV and streamed online at www.nmu.edu/commencement.