Student commencement speakers to reflect on UCLA experience

Andrew Ho

 

 

Andrew Ho has organized two UCLA Dance Marathons, given a 3-year-old boy a private campus tour and photographed a proposal in Dickson Court in his four years at UCLA.

Experiences like these are what the fourth-year psychobiology student will remember when he reflects on his college years.

Ho, who served as president of the Pediatric AIDS Coalition for the past two years, was chosen to be the student speaker for the 2 p.m. College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony on Friday in Pauley Pavilion.

 

He applied to be one of the speakers in April and was selected after auditioning in front of a panel in May.

Ho said he plans to focus his speech on celebrating the graduating class’ accomplishments and how he thinks they have bonded over the years.

Patrick Matchett, a UCLA alumnus and Ho’s best friend, said he thinks it would not have made sense for UCLA to choose anyone else to be a commencement speaker.

“He’s the most involved, modest and grounded human being I’ve ever met,” Matchett said. “He’s not doing it because it makes him look good but because he is passionate about what he does and he will put his heart into it.”

Ho became interested in the fight against pediatric AIDS in high school while volunteering at a hospital in his free time. After that, he decided to focus his college career on children’s health.

 

Through the Pediatric AIDS Coalition, Ho has worked closely with Camp Kindle, a camp for children who have been affected by HIV and AIDS, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the UCLA AIDS Institute.

“I saw the spirit kids have even though they are going through some of the toughest things,” he said.

 

After graduating, Ho said he plans to apply to various nonprofit organizations focused on children’s health or global diseases before pursuing a master’s degree in public health.

 

Sylvia Duzaryan

 

The large, unfamiliar community at UCLA intimidated Sylvia Duzaryan when she transferred to the university two years ago.

On Friday, the fourth-year communication studies student will speak at the 7 p.m. College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony about how she found her place at UCLA.

 

Duzaryan, a transfer student from the College of the Canyons, said that as she got involved with student organizations and on-campus work opportunities, she gradually began to adjust to the culture of UCLA.

“A majority of my speech will be about the UCLA culture,” she said. “It will be about the mutual experience we as UCLA students can all relate to as a community.”

When Duzaryan first arrived at UCLA, she said she tried to gain work experience through different campus departments, such as UCLA’s media relations division and the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s media relations department.

 

“Ever since she was in elementary school, she had this determination and desire to create and make things happen for herself no matter what,” said Lucy Duzaryan, Sylvia Duzaryan’s mother. “She would try the unknown. That’s what I always got from her teachers.”

 

During her time at the university, Duzaryan has interned with Target and The Hollywood Reporter. After graduation, she plans to take on a full-time management position at Target, but said she is still keeping her options open.

“I wanted to not only just be a student but also a student developing herself professionally,” she said.

 

Duzaryan’s parents said they think that their daughter’s love for her family is what makes her most special.

“Back when she was in sixth grade, she wrote my life story and it was very touching,” said Sarkis Duzaryan, Duzaryan’s father. “It made me cry.”

Though Duzaryan originally chose to participate in the speaker selection process on a whim, she said she sees her speech as a way to give back to her parents and grandparents for the sacrifices they made when they immigrated to the United States from Armenia.

 

“My family suffered a lot of hardships moving from Armenia to here and I saw it as my way of saying ‘thank you,'” Duzaryan said. “It was my way of ensuring them that whatever they went through in the past wasn’t in vain.”