Alexa Shahine, a pre-med student from Syracuse, New York, has been selected as the student speaker for the Class of 2022 at St. Bonaventure University’s Commencement Exercises May 15.

Shahine, a biology and health & society double major, plans to talk about the Bonaventure experience on campus and out in the world in her address.

“The Bonaventure experience is unique and binds so many people together. A big part of it is being open to new experiences and willing to leave your comfort zone. In my speech, I reflect on what makes this place so special and share some of the stories and lessons that I have gathered along the way,” she said.

From her first year on campus, Shahine explored the university’s academic and co-curricular offerings. She has served on the Student Government Association Executive Board since her freshman year, was on the dance team from freshman to junior year, and volunteered with the on-campus Medical Emergency Response Team from freshman to sophomore year.

Shahine has served as a peer coach, peer tutor and orientation leader in the Student Success Center and as a student ambassador in the Admissions Office. A dean’s list student all four of her undergraduate years, Shahine participated in an internship in clinical medicine at Olean General Hospital in fall 2019. Through a partnership with the hospital, students do rotations and shadow physicians in numerous departments at OGH.

She has also conducted important research alongside St. Bonaventure faculty and fellow students. For the past three years, Shahine has been the lead investigator with the Consortium for the Study of Pregnancy and Prenatal Development at St. Bonaventure, which studies the factors that impact pregnancy and prenatal development.

Shahine plans to pursue a medical degree at The George Washington School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., following graduation. A student in St. Bonaventure’s Franciscan Health Care Professions Program, she was accepted into the SBU-GW dual admittance program as a high school senior.

St. Bonaventure University’s 162^nd Commencement Exercises will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 15, on campus. The ceremony will be livestreamed via https://video.ibm.com/channel/st-bonaventure-university-live-stream. For more information about Commencement events, visit www.sbu.edu/Commencement.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.