"Graduation day has finally arrived and my heart is filled with gratitude. I want to thank my mother for the decisions she has made in order to offer me and my brother a better life. Mom, all I am today is the result of your hard work and persistence, you have taught me to be brave, not to take things for granted, and to embrace the present moment. Your faith has taken us to places I never thought of, and now here I am beginning my career in the medical field, a lifelong dream that has finally come true. I also want to thank you Elias, because without you and your endless support there is no way I had come this far. To my brother Fernando, I love you so much and I appreciate you always being there for me. To my family in Mexico and those who have passed, I always have you in my mind and you are the source of my motivation. To my uncles, thank you for supporting me in each of my decisions and encouraging me to be a better version of myself. I also want to thank my friends for checking up on me and listening to my stories of disappointment, frustration, and joy, I am so lucky to have you in my life. Finally, I want to thank all faculty for your passion and dedication, this incredible experience would not have been the same without you. Congratulations to all my classmates, I wish you all the best that this life has to offer, you will all be great Registered Nurses and will impact people’s lives in indescribable ways."

"Oh gosh...I'd...I'd like to thank the Academy. I would like to congratulate all the nominees this evening, especially those in this category. Their work continues to humble and inspire me. I would like to give a special thank you to Dr. Tavernier, our director Dr. Janelle Culjis as well as all of our incredible faculty and staff for their tireless and underappreciated work. Oh gosh uh... Dana Adams, Debra Millar, Michelle Dang, Karen Ippolito, Spencer Lang, Milly Gan, Melanie Rines, Elaine Loth, Colleen FitzGerald, Roy Blanco, Donna Lebaron, Agnes Alicar, Nadine Priuitt, Veronica Pehl, Shokoufeh Jashnani, Patrick Moran and the wonderful team at St. Joe's RICU for taking me under their wing, of course the legendary Ser Vang. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone, please forgive me. My...my friends and family, my beautiful and wonderful girlfriend Elaine Medina who's been my rock this entire production. Kobe Bryant, rest in power. And the great Florence Nightingale, for whom none of this would have been possible. Thank you so much and together we can fight climate change. I love you all. Mamba out."

"To my peers, can you believe we started this journey a little over a year ago? Looking back, hard to believe our patients trusted us with medical care. Boy were they brave. Many times more confident in our abilities than ourselves. To my patients, thank you for allowing a ‘student’ to practice on you and boosting my confidence. You will never know how much your willingness and encouragement has gotten me to where I am today. To my parents, thank you for loving me, supporting me, and most of all, pushing me throughout my college career. You constantly reminded me, it would all be worth it. And I hate to say it, but you were right. Justin, thank you for standing beside me and letting me use you as my fake patient more times than I can count. All the nights you stayed up late to make sure I had food and gas in my car were not unnoticed. To the rest of my support system, thank you for cheering me on throughout this process. I owe this to each and every one of you. THANK YOU!"