2025 Outstanding Graduates

The School of Education has a long-standing tradition of honoring some of our most exemplary students in the graduating class as outstanding graduates. Nominated and selected by the faculty, each graduate receives special recognition. Meet them here. 

More features coming soon—stay tuned!

For Beatriz Salazar, graduating with a PhD from the 91Թ is more than a personal milestone—it’s the realization of a promise she made as a child and the transformative power of community. 

Abi Wirbel is originally from Colorado, but has always had a strong sense of wanderlust and with a deep passion for seeking new cultural and linguistic experiences in diverse, urban environments. 

Trang Tran’s educational journey spans continents and disciplines rooted in a love of learning and a deep commitment to justice that help lead her way to graduate studies at 91Թ.

Iliana De La Rosa’s graduation from the 91Թ fulfills a promise she made to her grandfather when she was 8 years old.

As an eighth grader growing up in Carson City, Nevada, just a short drive from Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Hannah Kaiser had dreamed about attending 91Թ ever since she had searched for colleges in the mountains and saw the Flatirons in the backdrop. 

Some of Ashley Kim’s greatest inspirations and biggest cheerleaders were her teachers while growing up in nearby Longmont, Colorado. It was those teachers who continued to welcome her back into the classroom, encouraged her, and inspired her desire to do the same for new generations of students.

Through his belief that “relationships and community are the bedrock of meaningful teaching and research,” Devon Hedrick-Shaw would come to know he had found himself in the right place when he joined the PhD program at the School of Education.