The Biology Department honors Biology Student Ambassadors and Lead Peer Mentors for their hard work and contributions to the department and student success with a leadership cord. They have helped build connections, worked to find new ways to engage with students, and piloted a new peer mentoring program.

Celebrating graduating students with Kente Cloth stoles and alumni pins for all graduates, as well as cords for graduating BSC student staff members and BSC club leaders. For questions or to pick up your stole, contact Nia Gipson, gipsonn@wwu.edu.

Celebrating our graduates in Blue Group and at the Blue Resource Center! Welcome to all, including those who identify as undocumented, mixed-student family students, and allies. Contact cuaresq@wwu.edu or mss.brc@wwu.edu to inquire about participating in the celebration and/or picking up a BRC cord and butterfly pin!

Compass 2 Campus's (C2C) mission is to increase access to higher education for students in Whatcom and Skagit counties who have been historically excluded from higher education by providing low-income and Black, Indigenous, and students of color with trained college student mentors.

Each year, C2C places between 600 and 800 college student mentors and employs 40 Western students. Support for student leaders to develop peer mentoring and leadership skills is part of the program’s commitment to college success as well as college access.  

Learn more about the C2C Mentoring Program

The ESC at WWU is a community space that supports historically underrepresented ethnic students and allies by providing a social atmosphere and inclusive environment to engage in identity exploration and strive for cultural awareness and academic excellence. The ESC provides cords and alumni pins for graduating students.

Gold honor cords designate students graduating with magna cum laude or cum laude. Magna shall be awarded to students whose honor gpa places them at the 97th percentile or higher among graduating seniors. Cum laude shall be awarded to students whose honor gpa places them at the 92nd-96th percentile among graduating seniors. White cords are dedicated to students completing all of the requirements of the University Honors Program.

For the Kinesiology Club, we want to honor our officers for their hard work, the connections made, and the ability to find new ways to get students engaged in their future fields of practice. We would like to honor our officers in the leadership role with this cord. Their hard work deserves to be seen by everyone. 

Honoring all graduating students while celebrating and centering the Latine experience. La Plaza stoles will be available for graduating students. Everyone is welcome to join this celebration of achievement and community! For questions or to pick up your stole, contact Rodrigo.Gonzalez-Juarez@wwu.edu.

Learning Environment Action Discovery (LEAD) is a student-run restoration program in the College of the Environment. Since our founding in 1993, LEAD has continued to improve habitat in and around the WWU campus to provide ecological, social, and educational benefits to our community. To honor our hundreds of annual volunteers, we would like to provide our graduating seniors with a cord representing their service. Whether you've volunteered a few times or across multiple years, please email us at LEAD@wwu.edu if you are interested in receiving a cord from us.

The NeRDS club honors the commitment and leadership of their graduating officers at commencement with pink cords. The Neuroscience Research Driven Students (NeRDS) are a student-led club that discusses neuroscience research and provides brain outreach to WWU and schools around the Bellingham community. Their hard work and proactive community engagement are worthy of this special recognition.

The RN to BSN program at WWU began in 2013 with a mission to advance excellence in nursing practice by inspiring nurses to develop their full potential through lifelong learning. Faculty, staff, and student honor diversity, uphold social justice and advance system changes that promote healthy communities resulting in safe, high quality health care for all.

Student Ambassadors embody, represent, and share the meaningful impact of philanthropy on behalf of the WWU Foundation and President. Gifts from alumni, parents and friends are critical to advance student success. This team is a collection of students from all colleges and walks of life who actively share their passion, pride and gratitude for those who support the Western community. These stoles indicate they have fulfilled their commitments to the program and thereby helped advance Western. For more information, visit WWU Student Ambassadors.

For the Wade King Student Recreation Center student staff, we would like to honor their hard work. They have become the backbone to this facility. Their energy, communication, and thinking skills play into their academic achievements. We would like to thank our student staff with these cords for all the work they have done and all the skills they will take with them into their future careers. 

LEADS provides opportunities to students including courses, trainings, events, and participation in collaborative learning experiences on and off campus. LEADS is committed to developing leaders who are ethical, attuned to developing social entrepreneurship skills, and creating solutions for environmental and social sustainability.

The Wrestling Club cords honor our members who qualified for Nationals at any point in their collegiate career at Western. It is an honorable feat to reach the status of an NCWA National Championship Qualifier. Within that, we believe they deserve praise when they complete their time at Western. Those who earn this cord will wear the colors of our governing body, gold and black.

In 2011, the DRR minor became a way for students to understand and address the causes of disaster. Students explore how environmental disturbances impact vulnerable communities and how socio-political and historical processes in these communities create inequitable outcomes. Students that have successfully completed the DRR minor requirements may wear the DRR cord at graduation. It is a marker of their achievement and a reminder that they can support vulnerable communities in reducing disaster risk by addressing social and environmental injustice through planning, policy, advocacy, and education.