Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Will be Bunker Hill Community College’s 2022 Commencement Speaker
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Michelle Wu, the first Asian-American woman to be elected Mayor of Boston, will address the class of 2022 at Bunker Hill Community College’s 48th Commencement exercises on Thursday, May 26 at 11 a.m. on the Charlestown Campus.
“Mayor Wu is a fierce advocate in the movement for equity and justice – a leader that has been steadfast in her commitment to keep the voices of those most marginalized at the center of policy decisions,” said Pam Y. Eddinger, president of Bunker Hill Community College. “She has been a trailblazer in our city and I think of no better place to host her first commencement address as Mayor than BHCC.”
BHCC has long enjoyed a special relationship with the City of Boston, enrolling on average about a third of Boston Public Schools (BPS) graduates every year. The College also was one of the first to found early college programs in partnership with BPS, with programs at Charlestown High School and Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. Early college allows high school students to take courses for credit at BHCC while still enrolled in high school at no cost, giving them an affordable jump on college coursework, and even allowing some to earn an associate degree at the same time as their high school diploma.
Like many BHCC students, Mayor Wu is a daughter of immigrants. She is also a Boston Public Schools mom to two boys, MBTA commuter, and ardent believer that we can solve our deepest challenges through building community. First elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, Mayor Wu has a long record of accomplishment working for physical and social infrastructure that has improved the lives of BHCC students and their communities. As a Councilor, Wu was the lead sponsor of Boston's Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. As Mayor, she is working in coalition to deliver bold, systemic change and make Boston a city for everyone.
As a former restaurant owner, legal services attorney, and legal guardian of her younger sister, Wu understands firsthand the barriers that families and communities face. She has a background in community advocacy, having worked at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain, providing legal advice to low-income small business owners, as well as at the Medical-Legal Partnership at Boston Medical Center on immigration law cases for survivors of domestic violence.
In 2016, Councilor Wu was honored as one of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as part of Marie Claire magazine’s New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in America.
Mayor Wu graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, and lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor and her sons Blaise and Cass.
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About Bunker Hill Community College
With more than 50 years of academic excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is one of Massachusetts' largest community colleges, serving approximately 16,000 students annually. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC offers a broad range of educational opportunities throughout Greater Boston. BHCC fosters a welcoming and supportive learning environment for students by offering associate degrees and certificates, early college and dual enrollment, community education, corporate training, and industry-specific programs.