Matt Bengard
UCSD School of Medicine

Matt Bengard’s life trajectory took him from a small town in Oregon, to Stanford and then to the UCSD School of Medicine, via Paraguay and Los Angeles’ Skid Row. He knew he wasn’t destined to stay in Oregon early on, he said. “I looked around and decided that astronaut and doctor were the biggest and best things I could do,” he explained. It was a childish reason to get into medicine, Bengard now admits. But as he went through high school, he became interested in biology. He went on to Stanford, where he struggled academically before graduating in 1995. Then he decided to take a break and enrolled in the Peace Corps. He became a beekeeper and taught Paraguayans how to capture wild hives and domesticate them to make honey. “It was a chance to go and have a truly unique adventure,” Bengard said, adding he got stung — a lot. He was accepted into UCSD’s School of Medicine. He graduated in the top 5 percent of his class on June 3. Graduation was more emotional than expected, he admitted. “It hit home exactly what I was going into,” he said. Now an orthopedist-in-training at a hospital in St. Louis, Mo., Bengard is going back to his roots. He likes to work with his hands, he said. Back in Oregon, he often worked on cars and in construction. “Orthopedics is the ultimate for me,” he said. “You can look at X-rays and see something you built with your hands.”

Alex and Anastasia Zavodny
Revelle College

They live together, carpool together and belong to some of the same student organizations. Today, Alex and Anastasia Zavodny also graduated together from Revelle. They are leaving behind their little sister, Tatiana, 16, who is finishing up her freshman year. Anastasia and Alex say they are sad to leave UCSD because they will be separated. But they are excited about their future. This fall, Alex, 18, will attend the doctoral program in computer science at the University of Notre Dame, where he received a full ride. Anastasia, 21, will attend the graduate program in economics at UC Santa Barbara. Esther Zavodny said she and her husband, Ted Zavodny, wanted their children to have a superior education and encouraged them to attend UCSD because of its stellar reputation. Esther added the Zavodny children chose Revelle College because of its academic prestige. All of the siblings attended Palomar College while they were in high school. They transferred to UCSD through Palomar’s Transfer Admittance Guarantee program, which allowed them to enter the university as juniors, even though they were all under the age of 18. They still live at home in San Marcos. They carpooled together and belonged to some of same organizations, including the Math Club, the GRAF/X group and the Teams in Engineering Service. But each had a different major. Anastasia is graduating with a degree in management science and a double minor in mathematics and international studies. Alex majored in computer science. Tatiana, a double major in mathematics and Italian, is getting a minor in linguistics.

Sarahi Loya
Revelle College

Sarahi Loya’s parents didn’t go beyond sixth grade in their native Mexico. Their daughter is now headed for the UCSD School of Medicine, after graduating from Revelle College. Funds from Amylin and the Hispanic Scholarship Council helped cover her college costs. Loya majored in chemistry/biochemistry and minored in music. Her goal is to become a pediatrician. During her time at UCSD, she said she made sure she gave back to the community in return for the opportunity to attend a higher education institution. She was a volunteer in the emergency room at Rady Children’s Hospital and a research assistant for the San Ysidro Health Center. Loya also was a clinic coordinator, health promoter and translator for the Flying Samaritans, a non-profit student-run organization that provides free health care in Ensenada, Mexico. Loya graduated from Chula Vista High School and has been tutoring students in chemistry at that school for the past four years.

Andrei Fodoreanu
Revelle College

Andrei Fodoreanu grew up in Romania and dreamt of becoming a doctor. This fall, he will take one more step toward making his dream come true when he starts classes at the Harvard School of Medicine. He plans to study neurosurgery. Fodoreanu is currently president and chair of the Health and Medical Professions Preparation Program, the largest pre-med organization on campus with over 2,000 members. While a full-time student at UCSD, he worked as a trauma tech at the UCSD Medical Center, where he assisted doctors in the trauma unit during many procedures. In addition, he worked as an intensive care unit tech at Scripps Mercy Hospital. He said he found working in the medical field very rewarding. “The experience provided the perfect motivation for my long hours of studying in college,” he said. Fodoreanu’s list of accomplishments also includes making it on the Provost’s Honor List every quarter from 2003 through 2006.

Keef Ryan Hamm
Muir College

Keef Ryan Hamm, the commencement speaker at Muir College, will be completing 10 years of service in the Navy on the same day he graduates from UCSD. He attended UCSD full time, earning a 3.8 grade-point average, while also serving full time in the armed forces. A veteran of the Iraq war, he is currently a Petty Officer 2nd class at the Point Loma Navy Base. His major is political science; his minor is law and society. The title of his graduation talk is “Inspiration.” He says his wife, also a Muir graduate, inspired him. She struggled through a long recovery after being injured in a car crash and is doing better now.

Jennifer Hsieh
Warren College

Jennifer Hsieh, who plans to become an elementary school teacher, has been involved in several campus organizations that helped improve the lives of young children. She served as co-chair and administration coordinator of Camp Kesem, a nonprofit student-run camp for children whose parents are cancer patients. Hsieh also was co-director of the Pulitzer Tutoring Program, which offers services for low-income students. She also worked at the Volunteer Connection office at UCSD, where she organized events that reached out to youths in San Diego. Hsieh will attend graduate school at UCLA, where she will study education.

Melony Varnados
Eleanor Roosevelt College

During her years at UCSD, Melony Varnardo dedicated herself to spreading awareness about campus diversity. She became a member of the Black Student Union during her freshman year and worked her way up to the office of president her senior year. Through her involvement with BSU, Varnado partnered with various students groups, such as the Student Affirmative Action Committee, to help make UCSD a more welcoming environment for students of color. Varnado said being involved in campus organizations helped her meet some of her closest friends. “There were so many students who had a positive impact on my life (…) I could only hope to have done the same for others,” she said. Varnado is graduating with a bachelor’s in communications and plans to pursue a graduate degree in mass communications and journalism.

Oakley Anderson-Moore
Muir College Revelle

Movies, television and theater: Oakley Anderson-Moore explored all these mediums while studying at UCSD. She wrote a play which was selected for an undergraduate festival. She produced "News Junkies" a weekly political show on the campus’ television station that featured guests, news clips and pre-recorded interviews with UCSD students. She also worked as a theatre and film critic for the UCSD Guardian. In addition, she has been a very active member of the Muir Movie Organization since it was founded five years ago. Her involvement with Muir Movie lead her to co-write and co-direct a 45 minute feature film with a $5,000 budget. During her last year at UCSD, Anderson-Moore dedicated much of her time to making her senior honor thesis film, titled “Pow Wow’s Traveling Picture Show.” The film premiered at UCSD during finals week. “This film involves the culmination of everything I have learned at UCSD,” Anderson-Moore said. She plans to direct a documentary after she graduates.