SAN FRANCISCO – Following a two-year stint of virtual versions, Academy of Art University's in-person 2022 Commencement was a welcome sight this past May as a total of 50 Urban Knights officially culminated their experience as ART U student-athletes. With the COVID-19 pandemic preventing the 2020 and 2021 ceremonies, this year's collection of talented individuals from 14 different fields of study embraced the opportunity to physically walk the graduation stage to expand the growing alumni contingent from the first art school in the NCAA.

The first of two days at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium where multiple sessions featuring graduates from different majors took place saw Urban Knights collect their master's degrees. Women's track & field was represented by three individuals, Alice Coisne and Ombretta Picciolie Minkue Meye from the School of Communications & Media Technologies plus Alexandria Okon from the School of Fashion, who would all go on to compete in the 4x400m relay at Outdoor Nationals in Michigan one week later. Minkue Meye, whose name can be found 12 times among the program's all-time top five lists, collected the seventh All-American honor of her career at that meet.

A vital contributor to ART U's 2021 Pacific West Conference Championship in cross country, the 2019 PacWest Runner of the Year, and nine-time All-Region performer, women's track & field/cross country's Hasna Kaarour concluded her collegiate career with a degree in Landscape Architecture this past fall.

In the School of Communications & Media Technologies, men's track & field/cross country runner Abdelouakil Mustapha ended as an All-American, four-time All-Region honoree, and was less than a week removed from becoming the program's new record-holder in the outdoor 800m when he crossed the stage.

All former teammates while contributing to baseball's first postseason appearance and a PacWest Northern California Pod Championship in 2021, the trio of Andrew Shebloski, Ryan Gamboa, Vincent Lontz completed their careers within the School of Communications & Media Technologies. A 2021 All-PacWest Third Team honoree as ART U's leadoff man, Shebloski followed up a highly productive final season by joining Head Coach Dan McDermott's coaching staff in 2022 where he helped guide Lontz to his own All-PacWest Team selection and Gamboa to an impressive year highlighted by 11 extra-base hits with three of those home runs. The trio's talents off the field were also on display both in virtual form and live at Spring Show.

"My time at Academy of Art was special," Lontz said. "I was skeptical coming in, but these have been the best three years of my life. Living in one of the greatest cities in the world while making some lifelong friends is what I'll cherish most."

Among the 42 Urban Knights completing their undergraduate degrees were a quartet from men's basketball including Joshua Bagley, Adrian Byrd-Jelinek, Jacob Smith, and Kiel Long. The School of Communications & Media Technologies trio of Bagley, Byrd-Jelinek, and Smith all were part of the program's first PacWest Tournament Championship earlier this year which came at the tail end of a 20-win season that included a nationally-televised upset of NCAA Division I UC Davis on Nov. 28, 2021. Long, who completed his degree in the School of Advertising, contributed to the program's first postseason appearance as a regular starter in 2019.

The Academy of Art women's basketball team saw its graduating class feature Chanel Stuart and Ladun Akako from the School of Communications & Media Technologies as well as Megan Jefferson from the School of Fashion. All competing side-by-side in 2020-21, the biggest breakout performer in the most recent season was Stuart who finished on the All-PacWest Second Team, PacWest All-Tournament Team, and memorably broke the program's single-game scoring record with 42 points (including 10 3-pointers to tie the conference's record) on Jan. 15 all while helping the team make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016.

Two accomplished veteran leaders from the women's golf team as well as the School of Architecture, Anahi Servin and Iveta Posledni, each signed off on impressive careers in 2022. Four times both an All-American and PacWest Golfer of the Year (2022 most recently), Servin's final campaign was one for the ages as she was crowned the 2022 NCAA DII National Champion, making her the first ART U student-athlete not from track & field to earn an individual national title. It was a fitting punctuation to a season that saw her break the conference record for total career weekly awards of any sport with 17 while adding to Academy of Art records for tournament victories (13) and top 10 finishes (35). Only a few spots from her teammate on the program's lowest career average score record list, Posledni finished with honors ranging from All-PacWest Second Team and PacWest All-Tournament Team as part of the Urban Knights' 2019 PacWest Championship to the title of 2021 WGCA All-American Scholar and Academic All-PacWest selections every season. She capped off the academic year with the AIA Medal for Academic Excellence (Top Graduating Student) for her work in the School of Architecture which was featured at Spring Show.

Also teammates on a PacWest Championship squad, men's golfer Matthew Watkins and Otto Homruen graduated from the Schools of Communications & Media Technologies and Graphic Design respectively. After both finished on the PacWest All-Tournament Team in addition to being All-PacWest Team selections, Watkins and Homruen helped propel Academy of Art to its first PacWest title in 2021. The tandem also guided ART U to GCAA All-Academic Team honors that year as each were GCAA Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-American Scholars. Watkins would complete his competitive career in 2022, earning his fourth career All-PacWest Team honor and ending as the program's leader in career top 10 finishes (12).

Going out as the top academic student-athlete on the men's side in 2022, School of Interaction & UI/UX Design and track & field's Kaze Poitier earned the Highest Individual GPA at the 2022 ARTYs and finished his career above a 3.55 with one All-American honor and six All-Region honors to his name. His teammate and fellow All-American Roshard Williams combines his degree from the School of Communications & Media Technologies with contributions toward the top two indoor 4x400m times in program history including the record 3:10.02 at Indoor Nationals on Mar. 9, 2019.

On the women's side, two multi-time All-Americans, Natalia Novak and Selena Arjona-Alcazar, donned their cap and gown. Novak followed up a stellar 2021 campaign that saw her named All-American in the outdoor 1500m and PacWest Most Outstanding Track Athlete with PacWest Runner of the Year honors while guiding the ART U cross country team to its first conference title, three more All-American performances thereafter, and five new program records across cross country and track & field. Arjona-Alcazar dominated the track in 2022, earning five All-American selections (four of which came in solo events) and finishing as the runner-up to the NCAA DII National Champion twice. Responsible for a total of 25.5 points across both national championship meets and a key contributor to the Knights' fourth-place finish at Outdoor Nationals, she broke two program records in addition to putting herself second to only multi-time Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas ('16) in three other individual sprint events.

Distinguished as the 2022 Bachelor of Fine Arts Valedictorian, an All-American and seven-time All-Region performer as well as the director of Academy of Art's first virtual reality narrative short film, Hava Turner from the School of Motion Pictures & Television shared a passionate and inspiring speech to her fellow graduates.

"We fell in love, and out of love, and then back in love with our work," Turner said in an excerpt. "We created fashion lines and acted in our first movies. We got our scripts made, interned at our dream design firm, had our first group shows, and produced podcasts. We might have even learned how to do our own laundry and get around a big city, like this, all by ourselves. It might seem cliche, but these are the moments we must remember when times get tough. And I believe we must not get caught up in measuring our success only through the acknowledgment of others because the acknowledgment that means the most comes from within."

Fresh off each earning "Best In Show" awards at Spring Show, Adrian Cekala and Edvard Edvardsson led a 2022 men's soccer graduating class that also included Armando Rivera (School of Communications & Media Technologies) and Jon Peregrina (School of Interaction & UI/UX Design). Cekala first penned a record-breaking final season on the pitch as he became the program's all-time points and goals leader in 2021 then his Silver Addy San Francisco award-winning campaign for Puma called "Play Beautiful" earned the School of Advertising's highest honor. Edvardsson, an Academic All-PacWest selection each of his years with the program, had his sport-inspired design "Strike" win the top recognition from the School of Interaction & UI/UX Design.

All with work in the 2022 Spring Show or with cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or higher, women's soccer had five Urban Knights compose its commencement squad. Those student-athletes included Alyssa Rasmussen (also representing softball) and Jenny Wittor from the School of Graphic Design, Dru Keizer from the School of Fashion Design, Jordyn Wight from the School of Animation & Visual Effects, and Veronica Rodriguez from the School of Interior Architecture & Design who all combined to compete in over 220 career matches for Academy of Art.

"I couldn't imagine going to school anywhere else," Rasmussen said. "The ability to continue playing the sports I love and receive an education in graphic design, all while being in a city like San Francisco, was the most amazing opportunity I could've ever asked for. I met so many amazing people at the Academy of Art who had such positive impacts on me and will be a part of my life forever."

Many former four-year volleyball teammates could be found on the commencement stage as degrees were conferred to Kiersten Kerch (School of Graphic Design), Celena Davison (School of Motion Pictures & Television), Picabo Reinhold (School of Communications & Media Technologies), Catharina Brant Bambirra (School of Advertising), Sadie Emery (School of Visual Development), Michaela Charrette (School of Interior Architecture & Design), and Ashley Pawlak (School of Communications & Media Technologies). In 2022, Reinhold, an All-PacWest Second Team honoree, could be found setting Kerch, Davison, and Emery en route to the Urban Knights setting single-season records in both kills (12.81) and assists per set (12.03). Meanwhile, Pawlak finished her career among the program's top 10 in four major statistical categories in 2021.

From the softball diamond to their respective industry careers, a trio of Urban Knights closed the book on their collegiate journeys including Lauryn Henderson (School of Game Development), Alyssa Brundage (Communications & Media Technologies) and Cecilia Lopez (School of Fashion Design). One of the most prolific power hitters in ART U history, Henderson's career was highlighted by being an All-American honor in 2021 before she broke program career records in home runs (25) and walks (82) to conclude among the Urban Knights' top 10 in every major statistical career category except triples in 2022. Over the years, both she and Brundage could often be found catching Lopez who ended her career in 2021 with the fewest walks allowed in seven innings at 1.22 through over 300 innings of work.

Having wrapped up a memorable career on the tennis court this past April, Sofia Ragona finished her work in the School of Fashion Marketing as the team's lone graduate this year. She went out in grand fashion, winning the ITA West Regional Doubles Championship with Yun "Nicole" Shiau this past fall, adding All-PacWest First Team honors in both singles and doubles after being nationally-ranked as high as No. 9 in singles during the spring, then ending as the 2022 ITA West Region Senior Player of the Year.

Another contingent of graduates from baseball's aforementioned postseason appearance and 2021 PacWest Northern California Pod Championship included School of Communications & Media Technologies products Ty Conrad, Dominic Ruggiero, Ryan Skillman, and Collin Carriger as well as Jayson Summers from the School of Photography. Both Conrad and Ruggiero were All-Region performers in their respective careers after primarily serving in the team's No. 2 and No. 3 hitters over the past two seasons, Skillman and Carriger each had five or more career victories with strikeout-per-nine marks over 7.3, and Summers closed out his collegiate run with a 2021 All-PacWest Second Team selection. Additionally, Robert "Gio" Villanueva, who contributed to the program's improvement over 2016-18, finished his career in the School of Architecture.

Seven other student-athletes who previously graduated last year had the opportunity to return for the in-person ceremony including Camille Jouanno from women's track & field, Dante Williams from men's basketball, Nicolas Boffman from men's cross country/track & field, Fabian Barcena and Jacob Hord from baseball, and Hannah Rose Balke and Austyn Matlick from softball. Read about their careers in this 2021 recap.

This graduating class enters their respective industries with sophisticated portfolios as the Academy of Art University Athletics Department continues to celebrate its student-athletes' academic successes along with their athletic accomplishments.