Divine Zheng has been chosen as the student speaker for the class of 2018 undergraduate commencement ceremony.

Zheng is a justice and peace studies and history double major, as well as an Excel! Research scholar, a Students for Justice and Peace club coordinator and a St. Thomas Nobel Peace Prize Forum delegate.

“I’m grateful for having been chosen. I think it’s a huge honor, and I hope that people will find meaning and value in what I have to say on their last day here,” Zheng said.

Her speech is titled “The Persistent Necessity of a Liberal Arts Education,” and will focus on why a liberal arts education is necessary in building bridges through dialogue in a divisive world.

Assistant history professor David Williard said he is “so thrilled” Zheng, who he describes as a committed student, was chosen as the commencement speaker.

“She’s the most energetic, self-starting, curious student that I’ve ever worked with,” Williard said. “I have never met a student who saw her education as more immediate and consequential than Divine does.”

Zheng worked alongside Williard for her research on how the civil rights movement is taught in different contexts to K-12 students and the difference in content standards between states.

Zheng will attend the University of Oregon law school this fall. She hopes to study either civil rights litigation or constitutional law.

The St. Thomas website lists alumna Ann Winblad, a member of the board of trustees and a co-founder of a venture capital firm, as the non-student commencement speaker.

Kat Barrett, Althea Larson, Sophie Carson, Samantha HoangLong and Kyle Manderfeld contributed to this report.