Kaitlyn Fitzgerald is used to speaking out. Generally it’s about social justice issues or teaching English to local refugees, but her audience multiplied when she gave two commencement addresses at Arizona State University Dec. 14.
Fitzgerald, a graduate of Seton Catholic Preparatory in Chandler, was the student speaker for Barrett, the Honors College, and spoke as an outstanding graduate from the W.P. Carey School of Business. A student profile as part of ASU’s commencement coverage explains why the university deemed Fitzgerald a worthy choice.
It was a reading of “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah about escaping a war in Sierra Leone during her high school years that set Fitzgerald on the path of social justice. She ultimately launched an effort that buys handmade bags from a Ghanaian entrepreneur and sells them to fund scholarships in that country, the article said.
Fitzgerald earned two degrees plus a certificate in Arabic.
