MEP represented in 10 schools during Purdue University's Spring 2025 Commencement
Nearly 50 students connected to the Don and Liz Thompson Minority Engineering Program earned undergraduate degrees in May in West Lafayette.
Blue skies unencumbered by clouds meant glinting sun on May 16 — an ideal backdrop for celebrating the latest group of Purdue University College of Engineering graduates, including a significant undergraduate class connected to the Don and Liz Thompson Minority Engineering Program.
Nearly 50 MEP students participated over three engineering commencement ceremonies on Friday, representing 10 schools. The full list of MEP-connected graduates included 11 who received a degree in mechanical engineering; seven in chemical; six in industrial; five in aeronautical and astronautical; five in civil; four in materials; three in biomedical; three in electrical and computer; one in biological; and one in environmental and ecological.
The students were among a historic Purdue Spring 2025 Commencement, as Purdue’s main campus conferred more than 10,000 degrees for the first time in a single week at Elliott Hall of Music. Of the nearly 8,000 undergraduate degrees bestowed, about 2,300 were engineering.
“My (Purdue) experience was fantastic,” said Serigne Diagne, who graduated with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. “It was both challenging and incredibly rewarding. I had numerous opportunities, including studying abroad in Saudi Arabia, securing an internship, participating in a co-op program and conducting undergraduate research. Overall, it was an amazing experience.”
Diagne said MEP played a “significant role” in his time at Purdue — and, really, even before his official start in the First-Year Engineering Program in West Lafayette. Diagne participated in Engineering Academic Boot Camp in the summer.
“It was an excellent experience. It allowed us to familiarize ourselves with the campus before it became crowded with students,” he said, “and it fostered a sense of community and prepared us for the production engineering program.”
For Nathaniel Weddington, MEP was one of the main reasons he came to Purdue, and without MEP, Weddington isn’t quite sure he would have been celebrating on Friday.
“My Purdue Engineering experience was challenging but made possible because of MEP. The community that they provide and the different help and resources that you have access to make it a lot better and more manageable, as engineering is difficult,” said Weddington, who received a bachelor’s in materials engineering. “Another thing that they really talk about is teamwork, and that's something important in academia and outside of academia. It's difficult, but doable with multiple people.
“So (MEP) had a really big impact. It's good that (director Virginia Booth Womack and Markey) watch out for us, but it's really the other students that are there also really helps build in and foster community of, OK, we're all engineers, and relating to one another is a lot easier because we're pretty similar.”