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The Stamps Class of 2015

They had travelled to 18 different nations including Tanzania and Argentina, South Africa and Spain; participated in a charette on Ebola and designed housing for the homeless; minored in fields ranging from business and engineering to entrepreneurship and theatre. And on May 2nd, 2015, 124 students from all across the U.S. and beyond had another new experience, transitioning from Stamps students to Stamps alumni.

This year’s commencement speaker was Elizabeth Redmond, an alum and self-proclaimed design-trepreneur whose senior thesis project provided the seeds for her current success as co-founder of coWorkr. Elizabeth gave the graduating class an inspiring talk about tenacity, courage and the audacity of a great idea.

Just three weeks earlier, our seniors exhibited their own Integrative Projects, the culmination of a year-long project-centered effort by each graduating BFA student. Their projects ranged from one-person performances to game designs to interactive sculptures - check out an album of images from the opening celebration here.

The quality of these projects is always high. And this year, a number of students’ efforts were recognized in the media. Grace Ludmer’s exploration of girls’ bodies was featured on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls blog, Katie Corvino’s video about her two grandmothers made it onto BuzzFeed, and a story on Viviana Pernot’s documentary about Ann Arbor’s homeless community hit the AP and was picked up on more than 58 media outlets.

Given the intensity of the effort and the time devoted to their senior thesis, for many students, their projects are both a culmination and a beginning. We sat down with a few of them to ask them to tell us more about their work:

Kelly Sadlon’s project invites adults and children to engage in experiential learning through play.

Caili Dalian designs 22 clutch purses inspired by women, ages 5-88, who answered the question, "What do you Clutch?"

Through photography, video, sculpture, installation and performative works, Kit Parks suggests a reclassification of the living world that reincorporates humans back into the ecosystem.

Interarts Performance student Chris Ford created a TV that broadcasts 16 channels, and every channel is about... well, Chris.

Congratulations to all our seniors, we look forward to following your trajectory as you put your “Stamp” on the world!