“Life is hard…choose your hard,” emphasized Brad Holmes, an alumnus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Lions, during his motivational commencement address.
Retired NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham, the keynote speaker, shared valuable insights for master’s and doctoral degree recipients at the First Horizon Coliseum at the Greensboro Complex.
North Carolina A&T’s social media channels also featured inspirational graduation stories from spring commencement graduates.
Josiah Johnson documented his experiences navigating the world of STEM.
A proud member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers on campus, Johnson served as the President of Men on The Move, the largest all-male student organization at North Carolina A&T, was Mister for the Gamma Zeta Chapter of the Epsilon Pi Tau International Honor Society, and is a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society.
Life is hard…choose your hard, emphasized Brad Holmes.
Johnson gained hands-on experience as a test operations engineering intern at Cummins Inc. and as a manufacturing engineering intern at Stellantis.
He is part of the 2025 Fellowship Class of EVHybrid Noire, a national organization dedicated to promoting equity in clean transportation.
Upon graduation, he will join Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina as one of only 12 individuals selected for their elite TOPS Rotational Program.
Johnson aspires to inspire others not just to dream big but to work hard, break barriers, and pave the way for future generations.
Maya Connor, during her time at A&T, founded a student-led organization called ‘Building Our Successful Sisters (B.O.S.S)’ to help collegiate women access professional development resources.
After graduation, she plans to develop B.O.S.S. into a consulting business that assists women in gaining entry to top professional degree programs.
Receiving two full-ride scholarships has enabled her to pursue a degree in Health Services Management. Following graduation, she intends to attend law school at the University of Virginia.
She was also selected for the highly competitive SEO Law Fellowship, where she will intern with a large law firm this summer before starting law school.
Sloane Miller is a fourth-generation HBCU graduate, continuing a legacy that began with her great-grandfather at Kentucky State University, her grandparents at Central State University, and her father at Tuskegee University, alongside her four generations of A&T graduates.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she took a leap of faith and became the only HBCU student from Seattle to join the A&T family in person on campus.
As a freshman, Sloane saw the need for deeper industry knowledge in the Video Software field. She co-founded the Association of Computer Machinery Game SIG Group and led the group for the next five years.
Sloane successfully recruited corporate sponsorship and launched the inaugural North Carolina A&T Computer Game Jam competition.
She is committed to increasing representation in the software engineering field and has secured partnerships with notable companies such as Uber, Visa, Activision, and Epic Games.
While at A&T, she honed her software development skills through three paid summer internships, a semester-long co-op, and a study abroad program in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as part of the prestigious Black Launchpad Entrepreneurship Program.
Additionally, she coordinated a summer internship opportunity for 20 fellow Aggies with Activision in Hollywood, California.
Donovan B., a Willie A. Deese College of Business & Economics alum, announced that he will be relocating to Dallas, Texas to work at JP Morgan Chase in a two-year rotational program. This will be Donovan's third time returning to the firm.