Rhonna-Rose Akama-Makia Graduation Celebration

Watch The Livestream Here

Commencement Information

  • The ceremony will be held in the Dort Financial Center on May 3.

  • Parking will cost $10 per vehicle and is cash only.

  • There is no guest limit; however, guest seating is first-come, first-served.

  • The UM-Flint Bookstore can assist students in purchasing caps, gowns, hoods, invitations and other commencement items.

Graduation Registry

Your presence and prayers are more than enough. If you feel led to support my next chapter, a graduation registry is available.

a letter To Those Who Carried This With Me

To my family, friends, mentors, and community,

Today, I celebrate the completion of my Bachelor of Business Administration.

For some, this milestone may appear traditional. A degree earned, a ceremony attended, a chapter closed. But for me, this moment carries years of detours, pauses, growth, rebuilding, and quiet perseverance.

I am a nontraditional student and this degree was not a straight path.

There were seasons when life required me to lead before I finished learning. Seasons when responsibility came before recognition. Seasons when I questioned whether returning to complete what I started was even possible.

But I come from a people who do not quit.

I am the daughter of African immigrants. People who crossed oceans in pursuit of possibility. People who built lives from unfamiliar soil. People who carried pride, honor, and determination within them.

I come from a lineage of resilience.

From those who left home so their children could build new ones.
From those who sacrificed comfort for opportunity.
From those who understood that education is not just personal achievement. It is legacy work.

This degree is not just mine.

It belongs to my parents and ancestors, who believed in building something greater than themselves.
It belongs to every friend who checked in, every mentor who encouraged me, every person who said, “Finish. You can do this.”
It belongs to the community that never stopped seeing who I was becoming, even when I was still figuring it out.

Completing this degree reminds me that progress does not have to be linear to be meaningful.
It reminds me that resilience is not loud. It is steady.
It reminds me that legacy is built decision by decision.

To those who believed in me when this goal felt distant, thank you.

Your encouragement mattered more than you know.

This chapter closes not with relief, but with pride. Not just for earning a degree, but for honoring the journey.

With gratitude and determination,
Rhonna Rose