{"id":230843,"date":"2025-05-20T10:04:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=230843"},"modified":"2025-05-22T09:11:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T13:11:35","slug":"uconn-law-celebrates-the-class-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/05\/uconn-law-celebrates-the-class-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Law Celebrates the Class of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 200 UConn Law graduates, surrounded by a jubilant crowd of family and friends, celebrated the conferral of their degrees during the 102nd commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18.<\/p>\n

Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam delivered the keynote address, reflecting on how both triumphs and setbacks can guide us to where we\u2019re meant to be. He noted that although he was once rejected by UConn Law, he now stood before the graduates as the city\u2019s mayor and featured speaker.<\/p>\n

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See photos<\/a> from commencement<\/p>\n

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Arulampalam spoke about how important it is to be able to see ourselves in each other and connect with each other on a personal level. He shared a story of meeting President Joe Biden at the White House and being struck by an octogenarian Irish Catholic finding similarities with a Sri Lankan-by-way-of-Zimbabwe immigrant half his age. \u00a0He urged the audience to overcome the instinct to mistrust those who are different and instead strive to build the kind of society they wish to live in.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn Class of 2025, you get to choose your destinies and our destinies, and you could be the very best of humanity,\u201d Arulampalam said. \u201cYou could be the most powerful type of person, one who sows love in the midst of pain and brokenness and division, one who brings life into the midst of darkness, one who builds community in the midst of chaos, and collectively that is our point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean Eboni S. Nelson spoke about the many ways the Class of 2025 served its community, both inside and outside the law school, calling acts of service the class\u2019s \u201ccollective love language.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have exemplified the values of compassion, empathy, civility, and understanding as you\u2019ve supported your peers and colleagues during challenging and fraught times,\u201d she said. \u201cThe rich diversity of your cultures, experiences, and viewpoints has contributed to our excellence, and your leadership and advocacy have helped to bring and hold our community together. You have made one another better, and you have made this law school better. And for that, I thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Class of 2025 features 143 graduates with juris doctor (JD) degrees, 54 with master of laws (LLM) degrees, and one with a doctor of the science of laws (SJD) degree. Five graduates earned dual degrees \u2013 a JD and a graduate degree from another UConn school or college.<\/p>\n

Lois Nnenna Owunna, representing the LLM class, spoke of a feeling of belonging at UConn Law. She highlighted the diverse countries of origin, different languages, and unique traditions among the LLM graduates, noting that perseverance was their common thread. Nnenna Owunna added that they have a lot to give; they bring resilience, compassion, and a drive for justice, in addition to their legal knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have experienced has bonded us for life,\u201d she said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t let borders or accents divide us. We built bridges.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Meet some of the graduates<\/a><\/p>\n

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Speaking on behalf of the Evening Division, Yanhire Sierra-Lavalle reflected on the support of her family. She has held onto her father saying \u201cOf course she is, she\u2019s Yani\u201d about her plans to attend law school five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook for mentors, colleagues, or friends, look for people who will continue to uplift you,\u201d she told her classmates. \u201cLook for the person who says \u2018Of course you did it. You\u2019re you.\u2019 Don\u2019t forget to give yourself grace. Be kind to yourself. Take care of yourself and give yourself the credit you have earned. When you find yourself in the room with some of the smartest people you have ever met, remember you\u2019re in that room too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Davenport, speaking for the Day Division, shared a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. about moments of conscience, expressing confidence that she and her classmates are prepared to meet those moments with courage.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is an expression of hope,\u201d she said. \u201cAs we turn to the next chapter of our lives, I hope that we daily model commitments to empathy, service, community, and justice. I hope our lives are filled with love and joy. I hope we each know a career that embodies integrity and breathes courage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The School of Law conferred 198 degrees \u2014 143 juris doctor (JD), 54 master of laws (LLM), and one doctor of the science of laws (SJD).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":230827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1857],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2418],"class_list":["post-230843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 05:31:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230843"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230997,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230843\/revisions\/230997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/230827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230843"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=230843"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=230843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}