Kya Ransom to address Commonwealth Honors College at 2026 Celebration of Excellence
By Grace Chai
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Kya Ransom, a graduating senior studying psychology, will address the graduating class of Commonwealth Honors College students as the student speaker at the 2026 Celebration of Excellence on May 9. Ransom, a first-generation college student, transfer student, and student parent, grew up in North Carolina but has called Western Massachusetts home for eight years.
Her life in the valley, continuous engagement with the broader community, and what Ransom sees as a strong emphasis on education in Western Mass encouraged her to seek higher education with intention and expanded her overall worldview. She credits Commonwealth Honors College with providing the community and space needed to explore her passions and enhance her academic experience.
I spoke with Ransom about her experience and her upcoming speech.
Q: What motivated you to want to be the CHC Senior Speaker?
“CHC created this culture where resources and guidance and support are really accessible and offered without judgment or stigma,” Ransom said, highlighting how advisors and faculty in the Honors College have been instrumental in helping her feel like she could ask for help or clarity when she needed it.
“I wanted to acknowledge and contribute to how we define excellence within this community that goes beyond just academic achievement and really extends into care and the way that we show up for one another.”
Q: What was the process like applying for student speaker?
“It was a really beautiful, reflective practice. I feel like it gave me the opportunity to really pause and ask myself, what are all the things I'm taking from this experience? And then I found myself asking what values shaped me and what do I hope my peers carry forward as we graduate?” Ransom reflected.
She added that it was emotional because it made her realize how much she’s grown since she first entered the Honors College.
Q: Can you give students a sneak peek as to what your speech will be about?
“My speech focuses on themes of belonging, sustainability, and ethical leadership. I really wanted to take this idea of how the values we develop in CHC will shape the way we move into the world, and I explore the idea that excellence is actually about what we intentionally choose to carry forward,” Ransom said.
Q: How has the Honors College influenced your personal and academic growth?
Ransom said that the Honors College has been “transformative” for her academic and personal journey, citing opportunities to engage in meaningful research and feeling a sense of belonging and confidence within a community of scholars. While she came in as a transfer student in her junior year, being in CHC helped her get into a research lab and have those opportunities, especially because she was able to do an honors thesis.
She joined the Individual Differences in Development Lab under Kirby Deater-Deckard, professor of psychological and brain sciences, which is a developmental science lab. In her research, she examines the effects of parenting quality, how that can foster self-control and if that self-control can reduce risky decisions that people make in their adolescent years. As a culmination of her hard work, Ransom presented her research at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference this year.
Overall, Ransom says that being in the Honors College strengthened her critical thinking skills and helped her grow in emotional awareness, leadership and in developing co-curriculars for student success.
Q: Is there a particular Honors class that has had a significant impact on you?
Ransom wanted to say all of them, but said that one that stood out was Myths and Truths in Psychology with Joonkoo Park, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences. She enjoyed the balance of discussion with critical examination of popular papers or beliefs in psychology.
“In addition to this amazing discussion and awareness about research and what it means, we learned how to run our own research project within that semester and write an entire research manuscript about it, so it was very hands-on and intense and intentional,” Ransom said.
Throughout her time in the class, she appreciated Park’s support and willingness to meet, share personal insights and provide mentorship.
“I just felt so accomplished and like I had grown so much from the start to end of that class,” said Ransom. “And that was really the first class where when it ended, I felt so capable of beginning a thesis that it was transformative for not only my work that I produced, but how I viewed myself and how prepared I felt for that work.”
Q: How has being a first-generation and transfer student impacted your academic career? How did Honors help you throughout your journey?
Ransom says that navigating the hidden curriculum can feel really overwhelming but credits CHC for giving her the tools and confidence to show up to office hours, network and know that professors are excited for chances to talk to students and cultivate a learning environment.
“The Honors College has helped in so many ways from my first appointment, just meeting with advising and talking about like the classes and the process and research opportunities. My advisor made it feel really accessible and like something that I could achieve,” Ransom said.
Through the CHC Lunch and Learn Scholarship, she was able to experience how to approach a professor who you want to do research with and ask them out to lunch. She says that once she did that, “it literally changed everything.” Ransom met with Maureen Perry-Jenkins, professor of psychological and brain sciences, who connected her with the lab she is working in now and is her secondary thesis committee person.
Q: What has it been like to work as a Student Success Assistant?
Ransom joined the student success team after experiencing the sense of community at Honors through events and getting more involved. The summer after she got admitted to the Honors College, she saw the position open for a student success assistant.
“Immediately I just knew this was another opportunity to really be part of something that had really transformed my life,” she said.
Ransom says that it has been “really amazing” being a student success assistant.
“I get to be part of programs and initiatives that really help give students, especially first generation or transfer students, more of the tools and make that invisible curriculum visible,” she said.
Whether it’s helping students with their theses or participating in Wellness Week activities to foster a sense of belonging and empowerment, you can often find Ransom supporting programs that benefit students.
Q: What does being selected as the Celebration of Excellence student speaker mean to you?
“It means so much to me. It's a really incredible honor and a responsibility that I don't take lightly. I feel so incredibly supported by everyone in the Honors College from my peers to staff and faculty. Being given this opportunity really just fills my heart so much. Coming into higher education, I felt really unsure and honestly a bit behind because I started later than a lot of traditional students. But through the mentorship and honors community and the support systems here, I not only found that confidence academically, but I also really found my voice professionally and within the research that I've been doing.”
“This is definitely one of the biggest honors I've had in my life and I feel incredibly grateful to be selected,” Ransom added.
Q: How do you feel about commencement in general?
“It's definitely bittersweet. It's really wonderful to reflect on how much I've grown and how far I've come. And I'm so excited for what's next and really proud of myself for making it this far,” Ransom said.
She is working to reframe this sadness of closing a meaningful chapter of her life to see commencement as a transition period rather than an ending. As a student parent to a four-year-old — Renwick — Ransom says that commencement means more than just another milestone.
“Earning my degree isn't just a personal accomplishment, but I feel like, you know, higher education is an inheritance. And it's something that is going to not only affect the rest of my life, but the rest of his life and the opportunities that will be available to him. It's something that feels really powerful and empowering,” she said.
Q: What do you hope that the general audience will understand about the Honors College from your speech?
“I hope that people understand that CHC isn't just about academic excellence; it's about building a community where excellence is accessible, supported and meaningful. It's a space where students are definitely challenged intellectually, but also supported as people,” said Ransom.
Q: What are your post-graduate plans?
“Ultimately, I really want to bridge research and real world impact, especially in understanding how early environments can shape long term outcomes for children,” Ransom said.
She will be continuing her research in her current lab and also wants to continue working with the Learning Resource Center in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, where she works as a peer academic success coach to help with student success and accessibility for all students at UMass.
Long term, Ransom plans to pursue a PhD and continue working at the intersection of research, interventions and student success. She especially wants to be more involved in schools and communities and explain how research will directly benefit communities, being intentional about how research will help inform policies, practices and intervention programs.
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Grace Chai
