As the Spring 2026 semester comes to a close, many students will soon graduate and move on from Dallas College. Richland graduating student Raina Williams was selected to represent Dallas College as one of the six speakers for the Spring 2026 commencement ceremonies.
“Last year Dallas College featured me for STEM, in November. At that time, one of the marketing members for Dallas College asked me if I would be interested in doing the commencement speech for 2026. I told her yes and this year I filled out the application. I did, like, an interview video, submitted it, then I was told I got accepted,” she said.
“My speech, the main focus is around our village. The reason why I thought of that was throughout my entire time at Dallas College it’s been professors, family members, friends who have helped me get to a certain point, whether that be pass a class, committing to X amount of study hours. When I first started attending Dallas College, I actually failed my entire semester because I didn’t know how to study. I didn’t have friends or a support system. I think once I established a good support system, or I like to call it my village, that’s when I noticed an increase as far as my grades,” she said.
When asked if she ever saw herself becoming a commencement speaker, Williams said: “No. I actually did not. I had no plans of ever graduating from Dallas College. My plan was to take the classes I needed for my major and then transfer to UTD. I even remember telling my success coach that I did not want to graduate. But then last year, at the end of fall semester, my success coach told me I actually qualified to graduate for spring. So, this was all kind of spur of the moment. I had no plans of ever graduating with Dallas College to get my associates. But it happened,” she said.
“The marketing team has been very helpful in making sure that each commencement speaker has a coach, has someone looking over our speeches. I meet with my coach about once a week. They basically go through my speech. They make edits. It gets sent to the marketing team. They review it. Then they submit the commencement speech to the chancellor to review,” she said.
“I’m fortunate. I’ve been able to take public speaking. Also, being a leader at Dallas College. Being vice president [STEM League] and being able to have that confidence to speak out loud has assured me that I can do this,” she said.
Williams talked about what comes next for her after Dallas College.
“I’ll be graduating with my Associate of Science from Dallas College. Then, I’ll be transferring to UTD in the fall. My major will be biomedical science. … I’ll be there for two years and then at the end of my junior year, I’ll be taking the MCAT … I’ll be taking the exam next year and then applying to med school,” she said. “My favorite part of Dallas College I think would be forming the friendships that I’ve made. I was homeschooled throughout high school. So I was unable to form those lasting friendships that many people form in high school. Attending Dallas College was kinda like a second chance for me,” she said. “My favorite class has been anatomy and physiology. It’s a very rigorous course but it’s also very fun at the same time. It’s a lot of memorization. But if you love the human body systems and how things work and why they work the way they do, I think it’s a good class to take. Other than that I would say I really enjoy taking biology 1 and 2,” she said.
In 10 years, Williams said she sees herself having graduated medical school.
“Hopefully getting matched into my specialty of choice which would be surgical oncology or general surgery. During that time … it would be me giving back,” she said.
Williams left with some words of encouragement for all Dallas College students; new or graduating.
“I think a lot of times I’ve been guilty of this before, but as community college students we sort of close the door on ourselves, out of opportunities. Basically, in a way that’s saying, like, ‘Oh, because I went to community college, or because I had this background that I don’t qualify for X, Y, and Z,’ which, really, is not the case. A professor told me, ‘Do not shut the door on yourself, let other people shut the door on you.’ So, basically, just trying to take advantage of opportunity you can, until you get a no,” Williams said.
