May 9, 2026

Ferris State awards degrees to 1,500 students, celebrating ‘light bulb moments’ and family ties

Elizabeth Nguyen spent years circling the classroom before finally stepping to the front of it. The Holland native and new Ferris State University Elementary Education graduate initially pursued music therapy before a stretch working with children made the decision for her.

Watching kids hit those breakthrough moments — that "light bulb" flash, she called it — was the pull she could not ignore. She is now a student-teacher at Harrison Park Elementary School in Grand Rapids, with her mortarboard declaring: "My Turn to Teach the Future!"

Nguyen was one of about 1,500 Ferris State students celebrating their own light bulb moments in commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday.

The university’s 157^th commencement marked the first time graduates from Ferris State’s Kendall College of Art and Design walked with their classmates based on in Big Rapids as well as students who earned their degrees in Student Success Hubs across the state or online – some of whom visited the main campus for the first time.

“Welcome to this campus, whether you are part of our Big Rapids family Grand Rapids family, all of those Bigs and Grands, wherever it's at, we're glad that you're with us,” Ferris State President Bill Pink told graduates, families, and supporters.

“I will say to you that I am a deep believer that the work we do at this institution, whether it be our faculty or our staff or administration. When I think about the faculty that teach so many classes in Big Rapids, in our hubs across the state, in Grand Rapids, I know I put them up against anyone else in the country. Ferris State University is known to be that university that truly sent you to work into good paying jobs.”

Pink urged graduates to celebrate their hard work, but to go out into the world and use their newly acquired skills to use in rewarding careers and making the world better.

Among those heading to careers is the president’s daughter Lydia, who received a bachelor’s degree in Allied Health Science, an associate degree in Diagnostic Medical Sonography and a certificate in Gerontology.

President Pink marked the occasion by revealing special socks with his daughter’s photo, showing them off to cheers from the packed Wink Arena. Kareli Perez-Zuniga crossed the stage on Friday as the first in her family to earn a college degree — a milestone her parents, who immigrated from Mexico as teenagers, helped make possible.

The Casnovia native and cum laude graduate in Diagnostic Medical Sonography watched her father work two jobs while she was in school, a sacrifice she said echoed the discipline they instilled in her from childhood.

A poem on her mortarboard, translated from Spanish, distills the journey: "Sometimes I cried / Sometimes I doubted / But I never gave up / My parents, the first of many."

Perez-Zuniga plans to remain at Trinity Health Muskegon, where she already has a role. Her goal is bedside sonography in breast imaging — meeting patients where they are and delivering results with care.