Commencement 2024 - Student Spotlight: Dimitri Hanafin Reyes
Originally from San Francisco, California, Dimitri Hanafin Reyes came to Tulane to study music and graduated with a dual degree in Black American Music and Legal Studies in Business.
During his time at Tulane, Dimitri he has performed in various capacities, ranging from regular gigs on Frenchman Street to festival performances in the New Orleans Jazz Festival and Jazz Ascona Festival in Switzerland. As the student musician during the School of Liberal Arts Commencement Ceremony, Dimitri performed a piece he wrote call “Full Circle,” which encapsulates the experience of his musical journey and confronting the seas of doubt and anxiety that are inevitable in life. "Full Circle," is meant to serve as a beacon of resilience that highlights the power of embracing the past, navigating the present, and crafting an unsure, yet hopeful future.
After graduation, Dimitri plans to stay in New Orleans and continue performing and cultivating relationships through music.

Commencement 2024 - Student Spotlight: Katerina Ellison-Batt
Katerina Ellison-Batt wrote her first book in fifth grade, and got grounded for stealing Monopoly money to make the cover. Ever since then she has been writing, and recently finished her first informal poetry collection, Conversation Lullaby. Katerina hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan and received a degree in English from Tulane’s School of Liberal Arts. A transfer student from Michigan State University, she lived for several years in a co-op with 26 roommates, and credits the house with being instrumental to her writing. Katerina has worked in sexual violence prevention education, as a receptionist for Hillel, and interned with Sierra Club.
Katerina’s original poem Ode to You in New Orleans reflects on her experiences in New Orleans and at Tulane, and the friendships and memories built here.
Her future plans include staying in New Orleans, a city she’s grown to love, and pursuing a career in copywriting. Katerina would love to thank her mother for her support and the Tulane English Department, especially Professor Price, Professor Boudreaux, and Professor McFadden, for their endless wisdom and encouragement.
"Ode to You in New Orleans"
By: Katerina Ellison-Batt
you are beautiful in dappled light
oaks slow dancing
our runs through Audubon
I pick an eyelash off your cheek
our days are long and happy
and often, we remember the city we lived in
the streetcar lights bouncing off our faces, our grinning teeth
those long afternoons
in the grass outside Newcomb
those kind professors you wish
you could take again, those
technicolor explosions of spontaneous hugs
you smile and lean in
yes, this is a happy poem
I wouldn’t want to live in a flooding basement with anyone else
I tell my roommates
I wouldn’t want to
Stand or stare into the sun
With absolutely anyone
you are now all grown up, LinkedIn and thesis’s,
and you are my friend.
for a moment we stood silent
little cities in a row
and then
we began
to dance.
this is a happy poem.
anyway it’s as you said in your letter:
you are so much of me.
