As he walked outside the Thomas & Mack Center after Saturday morning’s UNLV spring commencement ceremony, new graduate Miguel Cerda said he felt pride and a sense of relief.
“It feels great,” Cerda said as he walked to meet members of his family outside the arena. “It’s a big accomplishment. I’m thankful for my family, friends and my girlfriend for supporting me.”
A nontraditional student, Cerda, 28, tried the college life after high school back in 2015, but it didn’t work out then.
Six years later, he said, he enrolled at UNLV and Saturday he celebrated an undergraduate degree in communication studies from the university’s Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.
Onlookers packed the Thomas & Mack — more than 14,000 were estimated to be in attendance — for a joyous ceremony with plenty of cheers and name-hollering. A second ceremony took place Saturday afternoon.
In all, the university said it awarded just over 3,700 degrees this spring, an increase of about 8 percent over last year’s total.
About half of all bachelor’s degree recipients were first-generation college students, the university said. Though Cerda called his graduation “long overdue,” he wasn’t much older than the average age of bachelor’s degree earners this spring — 25.
A gaming future
Like Cerda, graduate Taylor Gauthier, 22, grew up in the Las Vegas Valley. Gauthier, a track and cross country athlete at UNLV, took a more traditional route to her graduation day, but her overall path was anything but.
Gauthier, who received degrees in mathematics and computer science, designed and developed an original casino game model and sold it to DraftKings during her time at UNLV.
Because of a nondisclosure agreement she signed — standard practice for such an agreement, she said — she can’t talk the details of the game, but she’s wasted no time in getting her career started.
Gauthier has already accepted a job with Aristocrat Gaming, where she’ll work in game development.
“It’s been a long four years, but an amazing four years and I just couldn’t imagine not being a Rebel,” Gauthier said. “I’m so happy and today was such a fun day.”
Many of the grads there Saturday decorated their mortarboard flat caps. One graduate’s SpongeBob-themed mortarboard read “What Now?” while another wore one that read “One Degree Hotter.” Another graduate’s cap read “Done with this B.S.”
Raven Plumer, who earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, had her cap decorated with flowers, butterflies, a big finger print and yellow crime scene tape.
Plumer, 33, works for Clark County and wants to use her degree to further her career working in the probation and parole arena.
“Today was probably one of the most rewarding feelings,” Plumer said. “It’s not only because you’re celebrating your own accomplishments, but also because you’re celebrating the accomplishments of so many hundreds of students as well.”
Deeply emotional tribute to slain student
While Saturday was overwhelmingly joyous for most at the Thomas & Mack, it was a bittersweet day for the family of Yusuf Mosley.
Mosley, 46, an Army veteran and UNLV urban studies student, was fatally stabbed about a mile from the arena on Sept. 6, 2025. UNLV awarded Mosley a posthumous degree Saturday to members of his family, who flew in from Jacksonville, Florida.
In a joint statement through a text message, Mosley’s parents, Joseph and Jackie Mosley, said the experience was deeply emotional for them.
“We are incredibly proud of our son,” part of the statement read. “He was doing so well, and we were looking forward to seeing him walk across the stage. While our hearts are heavy, we are deeply grateful that UNLV chose to honor Yusuf and our family with this posthumous degree. It means more to us than words can express.”
Sixty-seven percent of UNLV’s spring graduating class identified as a minority, according to the university. That fact was not lost on Miguel Cerda’s father, Miguel Cerda Sr.
“Today is a very proud moment for the whole community,” he said. “When you look around today, you see all the Hispanics who have graduated. It’s just a good moment for everybody.”
Sixty percent of the class was female, according to UNLV. The oldest degree recipient was 77 while the youngest was 18, the university said.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
