Loreta Prenaj named LBC student commencement speaker for April 28 ceremony

April 21, 2024 - Tiffany Werner

Loreta Prenaj from Okemos, Michigan, has been named the LBC Student Commencement Speaker for Spring 2024. She is a Human Biology major with a minor in bioethics.  

Loreta chose Lyman Briggs because she was well-connected with Briggs alumni living so close to MSU’s campus, particularly her high school teacher Mrs.Tandoc and her older sister Blerta. “I looked up to these two not only as women in STEM, but also as compassionate community members and role models,” says Loreta, “when both of these women had great things to say about their own experiences in Briggs and how it shaped them, I knew that this was a community I had to be a part of.” 

Serving as an Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA), a Briggs Ambassador, an Undergraduate Research Assistant, and peer mentor, Loreta has had the opportunity to work with and learn from her peers, faculty, and staff within LBC. She said that her position as a ULA for LB 144 was particularly important for her success and growth. Observing the way that Dr. Masani ran her classroom taught her how to lead with empathy, to care for people as humans, and to be intentional with the way that you interact with others. 

Outside of classes, she feels she has grown personally in her time at MSU, gaining confidence in her abilities, stepping out of her comfort zone, and becoming a person she is very proud of. The main thing Loreta has learned throughout her undergraduate career is to ask questions, challenge authority, and challenge the status quo. 

She believes that sitting back and expecting that anyone in a white lab coat always knows best is no longer the way we should go about doing things: “We must ask why we are doing certain things the way we do or why we are believing certain information shared by certain people, what is the evidence, what is the history, what is the context, could there be any factors we are not considering, etcetera”.

“I believe that no matter what my future holds, developing and implementing this critical and curious lens throughout my life will constantly allow me to learn, grow, and have a positive impact on the world around me,” says Loreta. She is on the pre-optometry track and plans to apply to optometry schools this summer to continue her academic career.


Congratulations, Loreta!