UC summer grads ready to take on world

Ginny Sabers is earning a master’s degree in speech and language pathology from UC’s College of Allied Health Sciences. And her dad will be seated on the floor of Fifth Third Arena with his fellow graduates in UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services to celebrate his own master’s degree in criminal justice.

UC will recognize its summer grads in a single ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, August 2. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are required for guests. The arena allows only clear plastic bags. The ceremony will be streamed live. 

UC will confer 1,975 degrees upon 1,960 graduates. Some graduates earn multiple degrees.

UC will award 187 associate degrees, 716 bachelor's degrees, 899 master's degrees and 173 doctoral degrees.

About 14% of graduates are first-generation college students. And 50 students in the summer class are graduates of Cincinnati Public Schools. Nearly 5% of summer grads are U.S. veterans or dependents of veterans.

Summer graduates hail from 44 states and 56 countries across five continents as far away as Nepal, Japan and Zimbabwe.

Eight students also celebrate their birthday Friday.

Among the crowd at Fifth Third Arena will be the extended Sabers family, there to support Steve and Ginny.

The father-daughter grads say they rarely crossed paths on UC’s campus during their time together. But they did help each other study at home.

“I already had a year under my belt in my degree program when my dad started,” Ginny said. “He would talk about the reading and homework or quizzes and I would laugh and say, ‘Welcome to grad school!’”

She earned a bachelor’s degree from UC’s Allied Health Sciences in speech language science. While at UC, she belonged to the sorority Tri Delta and took part in a lot of campus activities, including watching football games at Nippert Stadium.

Dad Steve is a lieutenant in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. He was nervous about returning to school as a nontraditional student. Many of his classmates are his daughter’s age.

Steve said he set his reservations aside and dove headfirst into his classes. He had earned a bachelor’s degree online and often helped his wife and children with their college math and statistics classes.

“My dad helped not only my brother but me with a lot of school challenges growing up,” Ginny said. “For him, school is fun.”

Steve’s classmates, too, took advantage of his years of practical experience in law enforcement.

“They would come to me for career advice. I think they looked at me as the grandpa of the class — or maybe the father is a better way of putting it,” he joked.

Coming to UC gave Steve his first on-campus experience. He was impressed by the talent and poise of his Gen Z classmates.

“It was a unique opportunity for me,” he said. “These 22- and 23-year-old kids are amazing — they really are — the stuff they can do, the way they think and the way they handle themselves in discussions.”

Steve said he made new friends quickly. He invited one of his classmates from the Bahamas to spend Thanksgiving with him and his family over the holiday break.

As for Ginny, she plans to move to South Carolina for a position to perform early interventions for young children who have speech deficits.

Both spoke highly of their programs at UC.

“The clinical experience we get at UC is unmatched,” she said. “We’re blessed to be surrounded by schools and hospitals. That’s given me an edge against competitors in the job market.”

Steve said he is proud of his daughter’s accomplishments.

“The fact that she immediately had four job offers says a lot about the program,” he said. 

“And my college experience was second to none. The UC School of Criminal Justice is one of the top in the nation. They do a phenomenal job,” he said.

Featured image at top: UC graduates will celebrate summer commencement Friday at Fifth Third Arena. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand