Graduation celebration
Rhonna-RoseAkama-Makia
Bachelor of Business Administration
University of Michigan Flint, 2026
To everyone who showed up, prayed, called, and cheered, thank you. You drove, you dressed up, you made signs, you sent flowers, you sent money, you sent love from across the country and across the world. Some of you have been waiting for this day longer than I have. Your belief in me carried me to this finish line. This degree has your fingerprints on it too. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and I will spend the rest of my life making you proud.
With gratitude to Mothering Justice and the Global African Business Association for their investment in my journey and belief in what I am building.
I would love to hear from you. Leave a note on my official graduation page.
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.
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.
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
The next chapter
This degree is not an ending. It is a foundation. I will be continuing my education at Cooley Law School, beginning January 2027, as I work toward becoming an attorney in employment and immigration law. The law is not a detour from this work. It is a deeper root into it.
Cooley Law SchoolJD Candidate, beginning January 2027
Your presence is enough
Your presence and prayers are more than enough. If you feel led to support my next chapter, a graduation registry and several ways to give are available below.
Special thanks
My parents
Mr. John and Mrs. Mary Akama-Makia
Your unconditional love makes me believe I can soar above mountains.
In loving memory
Dr. Jennifer Aidoo Akama-Makia
Without her perseverance and the compass she planted in me, I would not know how to find my way. She is present in everything I build.
My siblings
Veena, Aidoo and Patricia, Nathan, Aaren, Beckie
The ones who knew me before I knew myself. Thank you for holding space for who I was becoming.
My niece
Amara
I love you very much. I want to continue to show you anything is possible.
My grandmothers
Christina Kuwong and Elizabeth Mugluma
The roots I stand on. Everything I build begins with what you carried.