From left, Chancellor Wolf Yeigh, Cecilee Fernandez, Randa Mustafa, Feruza Ghias, Aretha Basu, Sukhaman Kaur, Matthew Dunaway. (Marc Studer photos)
Activism, community engagement and transformative student experiences with caring professors are the stories of the seven University of Washington Bothell students in this year’s Husky100.
They were celebrated at an ice cream reception Monday with Chancellor Wolf Yeigh at the Makerspace in Discovery Hall. This is the second year for the Husky 100, and it’s a “big deal,” said Yeigh who lauded the seven seniors for their academic excellence, leadership and making the most of their opportunities. He looked back on what they have accomplished and what lies ahead.
Yeigh thanked Aretha Basu for activism that helped lead to the recent opening of the diversity center. Basu (society, ethics and human behavior) is applying to law school.
Matthew Dunaway is finishing work on his capstone project, a biodigester for Farmer Frog, a nonprofit demonstration farm in Woodinville. Dunaway (mechanical engineering), starts work in July with Clark Construction on the Convention Center project in downtown Seattle.
Feruza Ghias (community psychology, and society, ethics and human behavior) is joining the Peace Corps to teach English in Macedonia.
Holly Gummelt (the first physics graduate at UW Bothell ) missed the reception because she’s with the Trickfire Robotics team competing at a NASA robot completion in Florida. Gummelt plans to continue her education with a Master of Science in engineering.
Several of the students spoke, thanking their professors and reflecting on their experience, including Sukhaman Kaur, left.
“I am so extremely thankful for these valuable experiences that led me thus far. My pursuit of higher education challenged me academically and emotionally in way that taught me valuable and lifelong lessons of humility, determination and most of all persistence,” said Kaur (health studies), who plans a career in community health.
Randa Mustafa (mechanical engineering) is finishing her capstone project for Ventec Life Systems, a Bothell company that makes a portable ventilator for patients who need specialized medical devices. Mustafa is designing a way to attach it to a wheelchair. (Ventec CEO Doug DeVries is a member of the mechanical engineering advisory board for UW Bothell.) Mustafa next goes to work as a Boeing engineer.
Cecilee Fernandez (community psychology), left, who starts work on master’s in clinical mental health counseling, said her personal growth would continue.
“I walked into UW Bothell as just a transfer student with a goal of wanting to get my degree and leave, but I walk out as an advocate, leader, someone who has studied abroad, a researcher, a future counselor and ultimately someone who doesn’t want to settle and who wants to continue growing and evolving.”
