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Photos from ����AV's 2024 winter graduation celebrations.

With a final pre-tassel-turning lesson about leadership, kindness, and resilience, more than 5,200 ����AV students graduated or earned certificates Thursday at Winter Commencement in EagleBank Arena on the Fairfax Campus.

George D. Schindler, former president and chief executive officer of business and information technology company CGI, was the featured speaker at ����AV’s Winter Commencement on Dec. 19.

At 15 years old, Goonatilake is poised to become the youngest graduate in ����AV history with a 4.0 grade point average (GPA). This computer science prodigy from Leesburg, Virginia, is doing things at his own speed and far outpacing societal norms.

����AV will honor more than 5,200 students graduating or earning certificates at Winter Commencement at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at EagleBank Arena on the Fairfax Campus.

When Daksha Magesh came to ����AV as a freshman in 2021, she already had an impressive resumé. The Honors College student was working for federal prosecutor Manka Dhingra of the 45th District from her hometown of Seattle, Washington. Magesh says that’s where her interest in law comes from.

Winter Commencement Speaker George D. Schindler, former president and chief executive officer of business and information technology company CGI, will address ����AV graduates on Dec. 19 at EagleBank Arena on the Fairfax Campus.

Graduating computer science major Dhyeya “Dee” Padhya worked in the University Career Services office during his time at George Mason and was featured on the cover of this year’s Career Readiness Guide.

Graduating psychology student Caroline Little said she grew up at ����AV. “I have grown from a child to an adult at George Mason in ways I could have never thought possible. I came here a teenager, and left here a married mother of two,” said Little. Little, who will travel from Alabama to address her fellow graduates as the 2024 Winter Commencement Student Speaker, will welcome her second child, Isabella, this winter. 

Cody Salenga has been making music since he was a teenager. So when it came time to look for a summer internship, Salenga knew he wanted something in the music industry.

Darius Jack came to ����AV with a passion for systems engineering and for flying. He’s been able to maintain his flight hours while earning a bachelor of science in systems engineering this May and an accelerated master's in systems engineering, his second degree from George Mason, in December.

����AV senior Katarina Benson has had five different majors throughout her college career. “Choosing what to study [was] very difficult for me, because so many fields interest me,” said Benson. Benson previously majored in agribusiness, film and video, among other subjects, before choosing and completing an English degree with a concentration in cultural studies.