Launching Our Graduates: Spring Commencement Stories

Congratulations to our newest graduates! At the heart of every Maverick is a story that is still being written. Read more about a few recent grads from the College of Education.

Bashayer Hammadi

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders

Senior Bashayer Hammadi doesn’t know yet where her next journey will take her, but she knows that wherever she goes, she will be helping others.

Born and raised in Kuwait, Hammadi came to the United States in 2011 to study English at the University of Colorado – Boulder. While studying, she found a passion for children with communication disorders and helping those whose speech may be impaired due to developmental disabilities or a medical malady.

“Initially I wanted to be a pediatrician, but I decided that medical treatment is not the sort of thing that I wanted to work with,” she explains. “I wanted something that speaks more to quality of life and lets you work one-on-one with people.”

Now, six years later, Hammadi will become the first in her family to graduate from college – earning a bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology. It is an occasion that her family even flew in from Kuwait to experience.

“It’s been a week of adventure,” she says. “My nephew is here and I haven’t seen him in two years and so when I first saw him I was touching him like ‘are you real?!’”

As a graduate, Hammadi will leave behind a legacy of caring and commitment to the UNO and Omaha communities. She was an active member of UNO’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, University Honors Program and Sustained Dialogue Network, while also volunteering her time to teach Arabic at the Noor Learning Center and coordinate youth activities at the Islamic Center of Omaha.

Hammadi also graduates fluent in Arabic, English and sign language. She even provided sign language interpretation for the national anthem at a recent Stormchasers baseball game.

Not surpisingly, Hammadi isn’t slowing down after graduating. She is waitlisted at several schools to continue on and earn a master’s degree in speech-language pathology but says if that doesn’t work out she will travel home to Kuwait. Either way, she hopes to provide speech-language therapy to children affected by autism and other developmental disorders.

“It’s been so fun getting into the community, learning the different parts of Omaha and helping them out. My time at UNO has been a wonderful experience.”

Noah Diaz

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders

What better way for a future playwright to learn their craft than by studying under an Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee?

That’s exactly what new alumnus Noah Diaz, who is earning his bachelor’s degree in special education and communication disorders, will be doing as a graduate student at the Yale School of Drama, working with Tarell Alvin McCrany (“Moonlight”) and Sarah Ruhl (“The Clean House”).

Diaz is an Omaha native who wrote for The Gateway while at UNO, as well as worked at the Rose Theater. He hopes his future plays can foster artistic communities that celebrate those who are otherly-abled.

“My personal mantra, stolen from my favorite memoirist, Cheryl Strayed, is: ‘Life is a great and continuous unfolding.’ I hope that my fellow grads will continue unfolding in the profoundly specific and unique ways only they can.”

Yamota Nonaka

School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation

A huge baseball fan and former player, Japan-native Yamato Nonaka came to the United States hoping to join an athletic training program. After visiting UNO, he was sold. He will return to Japan with loads of clinical experience in athletic training, and he couldn’t have gotten it in a better environment. Last summer he was waking up at the crack of dawn as an intern with the Texas Rangers of the MLB.

“I loved the environment at UNO,” said Nonaka. “There’s lots of international students. I had a great experience.”