Celebrating a d.school first: a graduation ceremony for the new BS and MS in Design program. 

June 18, 2023 marked a pivotal moment in the storied history of design education at Stanford: our first solo graduation ceremony. The ceremony bridged seventy years of rich legacy with the promise of a thoughtful future, and epitomized the next chapter in Stanford design. In all, fifty-four undergrads and sixteen masters students graduated as newly minted designers. 

Recognizing Student Excellence

Student Sonya Kotov, speaking for the master's graduates, offered a narrative that intertwined personal growth with future potential. Reflecting on receiving the book The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric as summer reading before her first quarter of classes, she underlined the importance of active engagement in shaping the future: “The future doesn’t have to happen to you. It can happen because of you.”

Rayouf Alhumedhi, student speaker representing the undergraduate class, used the metaphor of the whiteboard to symbolize the design learning experience, highlighting the journey through uncertainty and innovation. Sharing her personal story of championing the hijab emoji, she highlighted the courage required to challenge norms and make meaningful change. “Navigating uncertainty offers us the launchpad to push boundaries,” she remarked. This is the essence of a designer’s journey.

Beyond celebrating the graduates, the ceremony also recognized the exceptional achievements of several students. The Robert H. McKim Award, celebrating outstanding work in the undergraduate capstone class, was awarded to Max Harris, Elena Kamas, Enya Lu, and Breanna Sandova–team “Players”--for their inventive two-player pinball game project which taught problem-solving and encouraged socialization.

Selected by design faculty and several guest jurors, this year’s MS Design Project Award went to Laura Schütz. This award is given to an individual or team based on outstanding achievement in their year-long, self-directed, masters project. Laura developed a new technology for sonifying and localizing tumors in breast cancer patients. Breast cancer surgeons testing her design have already had increased accuracy in excising tumors. Her work has the potential to affect millions of lives.

In a notable dual win as voted on by their peers, Kaylin Rochford and Antonio Medina were honored with the Design Community Service Award for their extraordinary contributions to the Stanford design community, exemplifying leadership and community building.

A Nod to Support

The event was more than a formal convocation; it was a lively and heartfelt celebration of the graduates' journey, recognizing both their achievements and the potential that lies ahead, with students’ families proud faces in the crowd. It also served as an expression of gratitude to the faculty, instructors, and mentors whose guidance was crucial in shaping the graduates’ creative and critical thinking. Thank you to the parents, families, and friends for providing unwavering support and encouragement throughout your students' academic journey. 

The 2023 Design Diploma Ceremony at Stanford will be remembered as a vibrant celebration of the transformative power of design, the resilience of its practitioners, and the supportive community that fosters such talent. Almost everyone at the d.school contributed to the ceremony in some way. Along with Renée Chao, Amanda Tiet and Charlotte Burgess-Auburn designed every element of the day, from the stage layout and graphics to the order of the procession, to the flow of families from lunch to line-up.  It was an incredible feat that we’ll remember for decades. The graduates are ready to make their mark on the world.

Congratulations class of 2023!

Sonya Kotov’s d.school commencement speech

672 days ago, on August 16, 2021, a package arrived at my doorstep. I remember it clearly, the brown cardboard box bathed in bright rays of sunlight. The package was from the d.school. The contents of this box changed me.

Before I go any further, does anyone have any guesses as to who orchestrated this package?

It was Renée.

In typical Renée style, she went above and beyond.

When I opened the box, I was greeted with confetti. It was overflowing, packed to the brim with brightly colored paper, cushioning the contents inside. I brushed the confetti aside and saw a book called The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long Term Thinking.

And in that moment, I felt like someone out there cosmically had read my mind. It was mystical. In this box was the gift I didn't know I needed.

I devoured this book, page after page, chapter after chapter. Before, I had spent long hours contemplating my feelings, intentions, and goals for grad school. But the framing in this book brought it all into focus. Everything became suddenly and shockingly clear when I moved beyond what I wanted to do with my life and reframed to consider how we, as a generation, want to be remembered.

Take a moment to remember the day you got your package or, if you’re an undergrad, your acceptance letter. Think of how different you are today compared to that day, 672 days ago or, for undergrads, as many as 1646 days ago.

Take a snapshot of that day and compare it to this present moment. So much has changed. The pandemic. Geopolitics. Technology.

Now I invite you to fast forward and think about the next 30 years. 10,950 days from now. The d.school’s 30th commencement ceremony. Imagine it.

Will we be in flying cars? Will we have solved climate change? Freedom from economic concerns? Will commencement happen in VR? All of these things could happen–or none of them could. What happens is up to you.

The future doesn’t have to happen to you. It can happen because of you. And that is the future we truly have in our hands.

When I was in kindergarten, I spent most of my time using crayons to draw animals or making collages out of glue and construction paper. Honestly, shockingly very similar to grad school here at Stanford.

But just like in grad school, I would occasionally go outside. Back then, it was called recess. And on one particularly sunny day, with a particularly blue sky, a question popped into my head. Where does the sky begin?

We didn’t have Google at the time, so I went to my teacher. She didn’t know. So she asked one teacher, and then another, and then another. Until finally we had an answer. Where does the sky begin? It begins at your feet.

The pavement, the grass, my hands, the top of my head. It all touches the sky. A foggy day is just the clouds coming down to earth.

Similarly, if you ask me where the future begins, I have one answer: it begins right here. Today is the tomorrow of yesterday. As we step into the future, I have two predictions for what to focus on.

First, when we all come back as alumni to attend the d.school’s 30th commencement, no matter how the world evolves,the single most important thing across all those years will be our relationships. The relationships with our classmates, with the faculty, and with all the brilliant people we haven’t gotten to meet yet. Those relationships will draw the thru-line between today and tomorrow.

Cherish the relationships you have and nurture those to come. To quote news columnist Mary Schmich, "the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young."

Moving on to my second prediction. The way I see it, the physical will matter more and more. I am a digital designer and I only intend to work in the digital space. But I still understand the power of the physical. Cherish the things that you can hold in your hands. Because that’s what makes the world sparkle.

That package that I received on my doorstep on August 16, 2021 was filled with confetti. That book inside changed my thinking, but nothing could have made me feel the way the confetti did. All along, it was just as important as the book.

• Keep a physical notebook, write things down, doodle. Memories fade faster than you think.

• Wear perfume.

• Go to the mountains.

• Pile your shelves high with books, if only to remind you of the sheer immensity of the knowledge you don’t possess.

My final ask of you is to take everything I've said with a grain of salt. The future is not something to predict. It is something to create. The d.school's 30th commencement will not be based on anything I said today. It will be based on what each of us do, every single day, for the next 10,950 days.

Thank you.

Rahouf Alhumedhi’s d.school commencement speech

Dear Graduates, Faculty members, family, and friends,

I’m Rayouf Alhumedhi. As we gather here today, with hearts brimming with pride and accomplishment, I am privileged to share with you a small reflection on our path as budding product designers.

To start off, I want to share one of my favorite findings about my cohort: we write on whiteboards more than our notebooks. When we look into why we have made the humble, unassuming surface of the whiteboard our dearest companion, we reveal our insight: For the last 4 years, we have been navigating ambiguity.

During our time at Stanford, we have learned to navigate ambiguity like seasoned adventurers. When we unpack our user interviews or begin our prototyping process, we find ourselves in the midst of a perpetual puzzle, where the pieces keep shifting, and the picture changes with every twist and turn.

The whiteboard has become our sanctuary, where we can distill clarity from the chaos. I have learned to be light with how strongly I hold onto my thoughts because I realize I can erase them just as quickly as I jot them down.

Gathering around the whiteboard, each stroke becomes a rallying point, inviting others to contribute their perspectives. It is a collective dance of markers, crisscrossing lines, intertwining thoughts, and visions. We learn to let go of the idea that often permeates many of our Stanford minds to be “the individual best.”

It is in those moments when a teammate picks up a different marker, adding their piece to what you have written, and you release shared excitement in your eyes that communicates, "I think we have found something special," whether that something special be a living table, a way to reimagine toys, or long-distance connections.

Now, it wasn’t my intention to deliver a love letter to the whiteboard.

But I do want to make it painstakingly clear that we have been positioned to be champions at navigating uncertainty.

And lucky for us, the next few years, will be nothing short of uncertain. Where you end up, who you meet, what your ultimate value system is, is all uncertain. And while we figure it out, we’ll have to continue to deal with questions like ”so … what are you gonna do after graduation,”

I do know one thing with full certainty: Even though the very essence of our being has been tempered by the fires of adversity–think a pandemic, global economic crises, and natural disasters, just to name a few–that same person will very soon walk across this stage. So, my friends, If the past is a reflection of the future, I know we are going to kill it.

Navigating uncertainty offers us the launchpad to push boundaries in the interactions with the world around us. However, what’s often forgotten in the glamorized phrase of “pushing boundaries” is the innate discomfort that comes along with enacting change. When we push boundaries, we challenge the status quo, which will make people uncomfortable. But that is when we really begin to carry the responsibility of the designer.

My teenage self actually made a lot of people uncomfortable. As a Saudi Muslim girl growing up in Germany, I had very little to turn to in terms of representation, so I attempted to solve this problem in the best way I knew how–by entering the world of emojis.

Unfortunately, my proposal to create the hijab emoji was not as undisputed as you may think. It involved receiving hate mail sent, being criticized by politicians, and dealing with internet bullies. In the midst of it all, self-doubt crept in, was this the right idea? Was I the right person to solve the issue? But I somehow managed to hold onto my conviction, knowing deep down that representation matters and that inclusivity is non-negotiable.

And it also made me realize the discomfort we encounter along the way serves as a reminder of the impact we can make when we stand firm in those convictions.

When we enter our future environments, I hope that we all carry a sincere thoughtfulness about the humans we’re designing for, because it’s our role as designers to swim through this sea of unchecked monotony.

Together, let us continue to write on the whiteboard of life, fearlessly sketching out our dreams and visions that will often prompt discomfort, while making sure to carry each stroke of idea with an unyielding passion.

Congratulations to the Product Design Class of 2023!

2023 Degree Candidates:

BACHELORS OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING IN PRODUCT DESIGN

Rayouf Alhumedhi
Adrian Avalos
Spencer Chemtob
Sarah Chung
Hannah Constandse
Azja Czajkowski
Tracy Do
Kevin Duan
Liam J Fay
Paiton Toshiko Kanda Gleeson
Anna Griffith
Max Harris**
Julia Hok
Seungyoung Hong
Yvonne Hong
Chloe Huang
Elena Kamas
Drea Kirby
Brenden Koo
Rachel Leou
Katrina Liou
Enya Lu* / **
Daniella Lumkong
Isandro Gutierrez Malik
Alexandre Porges Manko
Dija Manly
Maria Metzger**
William Mitchell
Jueun Nam
Ryan Hendrik Oosting
Marsela Porras
Diego Christian Preciado
Merissa Rieken
Victor Rojas
Natalie May Rush
Nicole Salazar
Breanna Sandoval
Nassir Sayda
Kailah Seymour
Griffin Somaratne
Adela Stonecipher
Steven Trinh
Sandra Valente
Xavier Fernando Vazquez
Emma Wheal
Chloe Widner
Kyla Windley
Cui Qiong Zhou

FROM THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING: BACHELORS OF SCIENCE IN DESIGN

Kristin Fahy
Leanna Kateri Lewis
Gabriella Mesa
Michael Sezen
Meilan Eng Steimle

BACHELORS OF SCIENCE: INDIVIDUALLY DESIGNED MAJOR IN ENGINEERING

Sophia Dew

MASTER’S OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING IN DESIGN IMPACT

Sofia Bocanegra
Bryan K. Dang
Gabriella Dweck
Jierui Fang
Joxemari Gallastegi Etxebarria
Ayisha Jackson
Jaime James Josephson
Sonya Kotov
Harrison Lin
Antonio Rafael Medina Perez
Kelly Redmond
Kaylin Rochford
Laura Schütz
Stanford Stickney
Donald Swen

FROM THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING: MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN DESIGN

L’Nard Evan Travis Tufts II

* Phi Beta Kappa Member
** Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society Member