Who is Mary Celestin?
On Sunday, June 6, 2021 Mary Jessie Celestin will speak at the Class of 2021’s graduation. This local community leader is currently a senior engineering student at Harvey Mudd College, located in Claremont, CA.
Notre Dame first met Celestin when she came to speak at the senior’s Government field trip, Democracy Matters, in December of 2020. At the field trip, she spoke to the seniors about her grassroots organization, San Jose Strong, and how students could get involved with her organization as well as our own communities. With the overarching goal of redesigning the modern city for the people who live within it, Celestin’s organization has spearheaded activism for racial justice, advocacy for policy initiatives spanning transit and housing, increasing political awareness, promoting local artists and businesses, and mentoring teens and their own projects. Her work in the past year in the South Bay community is a testament to the power Generation Z has to enact widespread change.
Celestin’s name was nominated by the Graduation Speaker Committee, a group of seniors who came together to find this year’s speaker. The group was made up of Shruthi Sriram ‘21, Gabriella Olavarría ‘21, Nina Pursai ‘21, Julie Tran ‘21, Shreya Suresh ‘21, and Madeleine Wong ‘21. Sriram talked about one of the many reasons why she was nominated as the grad speaker: “Mary's connection to our local community in San Jose, as well as her continued work fighting for social change as a young person are a testament to ND's values and the lessons we have been taught throughout the last 4 years.” Pursai also talked about why she wanted to hear Celestin speak: “After hearing Mary speak at an assembly a few months ago, I was inspired by her local actions in the Black Lives Matter Movement. She has already enacted so much change at such a young age, and it was amazing to see how passionate she was about her work.” After being nominated by the committee, the administration approved her as our graduation speaker saying, “We would like to endorse Mary Celestin for your speaker. We are impressed by her alignment with social justice work that we embrace in our Hallmarks and in Catholic Social Teachings.”
For those interested in learning more about San Jose Strong, visit their website, where San Jose Strong offers many opportunities to get the San Jose youth involved. San Jose Strong and Celestin are also on Instagram, where people can follow their journey and get involved with the community. Notre Dame and the Class of 2021 are so excited to be inviting Celestin to campus; for those that cannot attend graduation in-person, there will be a live stream where people can hear Celestin’s words of wisdom at the end of this long year.
