Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:
We are ten days to SPS Graduation! If you are participating in the day’s activities on Friday, May 13, you can find details here.
I am pleased to announce that in addition to our faculty addresses, both ceremonies will feature a student address. Each year, SPS faculty, staff, and students nominate a student speaker to represent the graduating class. Our student speakers have the privilege of addressing their fellow graduates, reflecting upon their Columbia experience, and sharing words of advice. This year, we received a record number of nominations.
The student speaker for our morning ceremony will be Jenifer Bloodsworth, ’22SPS, Wealth Management. The student speaker for our afternoon ceremony will be Adam Gerber, ’22SPS, Strategic Communication.
Jenifer Bloodsworth is a proud member of the inaugural cohort of Columbia University’s Master of Professional Studies in Wealth Management. During her time at Columbia, she served as the Student Government Wealth Management representative, the treasurer of the Women in Wealth Management Club, and was a member of the Wealth Management Club. Along with the rest of her cohort, she helped fund the Wealth Management Advancing Diversity Fellowship, which is the first student-funded fellowship offered at the School of Professional Studies. She has worked in financial services for eight years and currently serves as a national account manager for First Eagle Investments. She would like to thank her husband, her parents, and extended family, who have been instrumental in helping her achieve her dreams.
Adam Gerber came to the School of Professional Studies after fifteen years in theater and nonprofit arts education. Understanding the critical need to acknowledge social inequities, he rooted his teaching in arts advocacy—providing free acting training to high school students and bringing live productions to diverse communities that lacked access to the performing arts. In 2019, Adam leveraged his adaptability, highly advanced communications skills, and relationship-building expertise and pivoted to a career in residential real estate sales and rentals. He is a member of the Leibowitz Team at Douglas Elliman—one of the top-producing teams company-wide. As an SPS student, Adam has contributed to a wide variety of student-led organizations with the mission to enhance the student experience. Positions he has held include president of the SPS Student Government; vice president of the SPS Student Government; part-time Strategic Communication ambassador; and SPS delegate for the Interschool Governing Board at Columbia University. Armed with the experience, skill sets, and information embedded in him through SPS and the Strategic Communication program, Adam is eager to continue growing his real estate business and spending more time with his unparalleled wife, Michal, and his beautiful son, Benjamin.
Thank you to everyone who has committed to volunteering during our Graduation and Commencement activities. The University is still looking for volunteers for the University’s Celebration for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 on Thursday, May 19, at 9 a.m. (please note this is the ceremony that precedes the SPS Reception at 11 a.m.). We encourage faculty to join the academic procession as marshals, and staff and faculty to volunteer as event hosts, to help create a memorable experience for our returning alumni. Sign up here.
Best of luck to those students completing presentations, papers, and exams this week! We are almost there.
Best regards,
Troy
