Student Leadership Network Alumnus is Commencement Speaker at St. Bonaventure University

Anas Alami is a graduate of Juan Morel Campos Secondary School, a partner school of our CollegeBound Initiative (CBI).

Originally published by St. Bonaventure University on May 12, 2025

Hope and Opportunity Bring Student Speaker to Commencement Podium

Hope—and a door to opportunity held open—brought Anas Alami to St. Bonaventure University four years ago. Today, this once-shy Brooklyn native who navigated the foster care system has been selected as the student speaker for SBU’s 165th Commencement Exercises on May 18.

[By senior year of high school] that progress was significantly shaped by the combined support of his English teacher and her wife, whom he called “his aunties,” his basketball coach, who instilled discipline and teamwork, and his school counselor, who provided essential guidance.

He also learned about the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP). When he first saw the acronym, he misread it as “HOPE” — a fitting symbol of everything he envisioned for his future. Determined to create a better life, Alami applied to HEOP and was accepted at St. Bonaventure, where new doors continued to open.

A Business Management major in the School of Business, he plans to focus his address on the “door-holding spirit” of St. Bonaventure — and the compassion and community he found here.

“When I see someone down, I love to raise their spirits. Growing up the way I did, I understand what a hard day really is,” he said. “I always tell them that a day has 24 hours. You can have a bad one hour, but don’t make the whole 24 hours bad.”

After graduation, Alami will remain at St. Bonaventure to complete his MBA and serve as an academic counselor for HEOP and SOAR.