Abby Heller has been chosen as the speaker for the 2019 undergraduate commencement ceremony.

Heller is a neuroscience major, as well as an Excel! Research Scholar, operations manager for residence life and a member of the Luann Dummer Center for Women advisory board.

“As a student member of the LDCW team, Abby has been so valued,” LDCW director Young-ok An said.

An also put an emphasis on Heller’s voice of representation on campus.

“As a scholar, researcher, and a student leader, Abby has accomplished an incredible amount of work. While being very vocal about her convictions, Abby is also very playful and passionate,” An said.

The selection process of the commencement speaker involves being nominated or submitting a nomination, and then semi-finalists are asked to submit an outline of their speech. Abby was one of three finalists that had to give their speech in front of a committee of students and faculty.

“I was surprised and also honored, because I’m sure that there were many great messages put out there within the selection process,” Heller said. “I’m excited that mine was chosen.”

Heller’s speech is titled “The Power of Changing.”

“We can make a lot of change, and I think that we have a lot of opportunities to make positive change in the world,” Heller said.

Heller has taken advantage of opportunities on campus to make a change in the past four years. After graduation, Heller will be a lab manager in the Manzini Lab at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“I’ve just had a really great time here at St. Thomas, and I’m excited to reflect upon that and share my thoughts and feelings with my peers,” Heller said.

Kat Barrett, Carly Noble, Justin Amaker, Abby Sliva and Lexie Nustvold contributed to this report.