BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech held its spring commencement ceremony Friday evening, and more than more than 69 Virginia Tech student-athletes received their diplomas.
The university held the ceremony online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the virtual event featured videos, photos, special guests and performances.
The group of student-athletes graduating included eight football players: Xavier Burke (property management), Andrew Motuapuaka (multimedia journalism), Emmanuel Belmar (property management), Oscar Bradburn (marketing management), Jarrod Hewitt (property management), Zachariah Hoyt (accounting and information systems), Khalil Ladler (criminology, and Deshawn McClease (consumer studies).
The contingent of graduates also included 17 swimmers – 10 on the women’s side and seven on the men’s side. Those on the women’s team who graduated were Jenna Beattie (communication), Jessica Beattie (human development), Baillie Cameron (marketing management), Caroline de Jager (clinical neuroscience), Annalee Johnson (management – management consulting and analytics), Kayla Purcell (psychology and cognitive behavioral neuroscience), Erin Scott (marketing management) and Margarita Ryan (management – human resource management). In addition, Jessica Arnold earned two degrees, one in human nutrition, foods, and exercise and one in psychology.
Graduating from the men’s swimming and diving team were Aaron Boyd (business information technology; operation and supply chain management), Hassler Carroll (public relations), Justin Rich (real estate), Norbert Szabo (hospitality and tourism management), Sean Workman (mining engineering), Collin Fiala (finance; investments management and chartered financial analyst; human resource management and Simon Shi (computer science).
Six women’s cross-country and track and field team members graduated: Sara Freix (biological systems engineering), Sarah Edwards (interior design), Mikayla Richardson (computer science), Eszter Bajnok (international studies and business), Kajsa Wennberg (management; management consulting and analytics & management; entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology management & management; human resources management), Kanajzae Brown (biological sciences), and Pavla Kuklova, who received degrees in both human development and psychology.
On the men’s cross-country and track and field team, five graduated: Jaelyn Demory (computational modeling and data analytics), Matt Reinhart (industrial design) and Matija Muhar (multimedia journalism; sports media and analytics). Peter Seufer earned a degree in economics to go with the finance degree that he received in 2019. Also, Diego Zarate wrapped up coursework toward three degrees: sociology, criminology and psychology.
Five wrestlers graduated: Cody Hughes (management; entrepreneurship, innovation and technology management), David McFadden (human development), Korbin Myers (human development), Ryan More (computer science) and Dom Latona (biological sciences).
The lacrosse program saw four players graduate: Mary Clare McCarthy (finance; investment management and chartered financial analyst), Taylor Caskey (multimedia journalism), Sydney Gagnon (multimedia journalism) and Kiley Kettle (human nutrition, foods and exercise; dietetics).
Four women’s soccer players graduated: Jordan Hemmen (biological systems engineering), Olivia Odle (management; entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology management), Bridget Patch (psychology) and Lilly Weber (public relations).
The volleyball program saw four players graduate: Melody Caloyannides (mechanical engineering), Tabitha McKinzie (communication), Carol Raffety (criminology and sociology) and Ester Talamazzi (marketing management; digital marketing strategy & management; entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology management).
Two men’s tennis players and two women’s tennis players earned their degrees: Mitch Harper (management; management consulting and analytics), Alex Ribeiro (management; management consulting and analytics), Shene Disbergen (human nutrition, foods and exercise) and Natalie Novotna, who earned degrees in both biology and chemistry.
The baseball program had three players to graduate: Peyton Alford (psychology), Graham Seitz (accounting information systems; accounting & finance; financial accounting) and Reagan Teegarden (management; entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology management).
Two members of the women’s basketball team, Trinity Baptiste (sociology) and Kendyl Brooks (human development); two members of the women’s golf team, Kristin Hearp (marketing management) and Sarah Spicer (economics) and two players from the men’s soccer team, Jon Ingason (psychology) and Brendan Moyers (chemical engineering) graduated.
One men’s golfer, Mark Law
Also, one men’s golfer, Mark Lawrence Jr. (finance; investments management and chartered financial analyst), and one softball player, Olivia Lattin, who received her second degree (management; management consulting and analytics) graduated. Lattin also graduated with a finance degree in 2019.
Members of Virginia Tech’s spirit squads — cheerleading, HighTechs and HokieBirds — who graduated were Andrew Kincaid (wildlife conservation), Dillon Morell (statistics), Emily Santos (curriculum and instruction), Jessica Hauser (psychology), Lauren Keener (human nutrition, foods, and exercise), Matt Madrazo (packaging systems design), Noel Taylor (public relations), Nicole Thomas (business administration), Stephen Wilder (criminology), Will Borin (sustainable biomaterials), and Zach Scharf (sociology).
