Grad Fest

Celebratory Grad Fest will be a free campus wide festival open to all students, featuring food, speakers, student grad acknowledgment, music and dance performances, and local vendors/Bazaar. The event provides a joyful space for this year's graduates to celebrate their achievements with classmates, friends, and family. Graduates will have the opportunity to submit their names for public shout outs during the event, giving them well deserved recognition. There will also be a photo station; with a graduation backdrop, a "I did it!" Sign, and Family photo corner.
We are also planning on having a cap-decorating station.
This fest not only honors individual accomplishments but also highlights the value of education and the hard work it takes to earn a degree. This event will blend culture, performance, and social bonding. It centers global awareness by connecting SOF students in Afghanistan with local graduates here. This in turn brings families, cultures, and communities together. It promotes cultural engagement and inclusivity. Educational programming through storytelling, performers, community resources, and cultural vendors. In turn, this will help break down stereotypes and bring people together through shared understanding.
What we're doing with this ceremony is building a bridge between communities that usually feel worlds apart. We're creating a moment where students from completely different backgrounds can be celebrated together, and that shared recognition helps grow understanding, empathy, and acceptance. By honoring students from all communities who have achieved success in higher education, we're also highlighting the importance of inclusivity, gender equality, and the right to education. That matters even more when we think about the girls in Afghanistan who would give anything just to go to school and who were still able to pursue their education despite the Taliban trying to stop them. These young women have worked incredibly hard to graduate, and hosting a ceremony for them alongside UC Davis students not only celebrates achievement but shows the power of connection, support, and global solidarity. It's a reminder that education shouldn't be limited by gender or geography, and that celebrating each other's success is itself a form of resistance.

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