PULLMAN, Wash. – High school administrator and Washington State University alumnus Joshua Agpalza will give the keynote address at the annual Multicultural Graduation Celebration at 6 p.m. Friday, May 6, in the CUB ballroom.
About 200 graduates will be recognized at the celebration, which is free to the public. Other speakers include Daniel Bernardo, interim president; Melynda Huskey, interim vice president for student affairs and dean of students; J. Manuel Acevedo, director of WSU Multicultural Student Services; and four students.
Agpalza is dean of students at Federal Way High School in western Washington. At WSU he was a student mentor in the Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Center and a resident advisor for WSU’s Upward Bound program. He provided leadership in organizing the Annual SHAPING Conference, a recruiting event for Asian American and Pacific Islander high school students.
“I learned a lot about leadership, innovation and making lifelong friends,” said Agpalza. “In my speech I want to discuss topics such as the importance of self-worth, social responsibility and being a lifelong learner.”
The graduation celebration has a long tradition of bringing back former students who made significant contributions to WSU, said Acevedo.
“Joshua is another outstanding individual who, as a student, added greatly to the legacy of diversity, continued on to advance access to education for underrepresented youth and will definitely have an inspirational message for the 2016 graduating class,” he said.