Elijah Farley received a degree in Chemistry and was chosen to represent Swenson College of Science & Engineering as the student commencement speaker.
First off, why UMD?
Elijah grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and chose UMD because it was a good enough distance away from his family and he really liked the science program here. He planned on coming to UMD as a chemical engineering student, but soon switched to pursue a degree in chemistry. Elijah also graduated with a B.A. in philosophy in May.
His goal at UMD was to learn more about himself and to grow up, but most importantly, to graduate with a four-year degree.
What is your most memorable college moment?
“All the parties I went to, I’m kidding. I’m lame and I never went to any parties,” Elijah joked.
He explained that his actual most memorable moment was the first time he went to a research conference with his research group. Elijah works in Dr. Jacob Wainman’s office doing educational research and with his group, they attended the SABER Bio Network Conference.
This conference took place at U of M – Twin Cities last summer. It was an education based conference in the STEM field which included chemistry education. Elijah said speakers came from across the nation and shared their research on how to improve student learning.
“It was incredible because we were sharing ideas with people from Harvard who were coming up with stuff that we are doing here. It was a humbling experience,” said Elijah.
What have you learned?
After being at UMD for four years, Elijah has learned the importance of being able to step back from his own thoughts and feelings. He’s learned how to empathize with other people and see things from different perspectives. He said it’s a good skill to develop here.
“It gets a little too easy to get wrapped up in your ego,” said Elijah.
He also wants to let other students know to take risks. Not just small risks, but big risks.
“It wasn’t possible for me to be where I am without having to take some big scary risks, like going to talk to different people, admitting that I’m wrong, or that I’m failing," said Elijah.
He encourages people to learn to admit when they may be wrong and take big risks. "Otherwise, you’re not going to grow and you will be the same person going out, as coming in," he said.
How did you get to be the commencement speaker?
Elijah said that he was picked to be the student commencement speaker because the committee appreciated his sincerity in his writing sample and he had a strong message.
He talked about intersectionality and how it applies to a student pursuing chemistry and philosophy degrees as well as the fact that he is openly transgender.
Who has had the most influence on your college career?
“Dr. Jacob Wainman, my mentor and research advisor. He’s definitely had a huge impact on a lot of things and I’m still doing research with him," said Elijah. “And Nicholas Ruha, he’s my best friend in the whole world. I met him here and he graduated two years ago. He’s definitely one of the people that I’m probably going to know for the rest of my life. Also, Dr. Chloe Diamond-Lenow, she’s amazing and actually helped me write my commencement speech.”