Elvis Veliu has found academic success at Schoolcraft College, earning several awards and graduating with honors.
Elvis Veliu’s path to commencement has been anything but ordinary.
After high school, life took him in several directions – helping family, trying out different educational paths, and navigating the challenges of COVID – before he found his true academic calling at Schoolcraft College.
“That gave me the opportunity to kind of just like think about what I was gonna do and I knew that school was something that I wanted to come back to and finish a degree,” he said. “I felt I could actually get work in and it was something that I was interested in doing. And so I came back to Schoolcraft.”
Not only will Veliu walk and receive his associate degree during Saturday’s 60th Annual Commencement here at Schoolcraft College, he’ll do so as a student marshal, escorting his class into the TrinityElite Sports Center.
Veliu’s family came to the United States when he was a child. Born of Albanian parents while they were in Turkey, his parents decided since they were going to the U.S. to give their newborn son the most American name they could think of. No name was more American to them than Elvis.
His parents looked for work, finding it in various locations before they had enough money to open their own restaurant, a place that Veliu spent plenty of time at. While there, he ended up taking his ServSafe certification at Schoolcraft, which got him acquainted with the campus. So when it came time for him to go to school, he enrolled.
Originally thinking about going into teaching or law due to his love of philosophy, Veliu eventually found a love of physics. He will graduate Saturday with his degree focusing on science, with plans to attend the University of Michigan to earn a bachelor’s degree.
During his time on campus, Veliu found plenty of ways to stay involved: in addition to participating in the Honors Scholars program and serving as the Phi Theta Kappa Omicron Iota Chapter president, he also got involved with other projects, including one that resulted in the publishing of a student success manual entitled, “The Forest of Knowledge: A Reflective Guide to Student Success,” which aims to help college students first attempt to discover their values and set achievable goals for themselves. It’s a project that made himself and several of his classmates published authors.
He has also earned several awards, including the Campus Compact Student Leadership Award, given to just six undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate inspiring leadership qualities through civic and community engagement.
Once he completes his college education, his ultimate goal is to earn a graduate degree and join higher education doing research. “I can’t see myself doing anything else. I have a lot of passions, but I know that eventually I’m going to work in the realm of education,” he said. His best advice for those looking to attend Schoolcraft College? Get involved and make the college experience. “Get out there, go out and help other people, because that’s what because that’s what we’re here to do – to come here and the best we can, and do as much as we can for one another,” Veliu said. “I think that’s the best way to go about life.”