Wean Foundation president chosen KSU at Trumbull commencement speaker

Staff report

CHAMPION

Jennifer Roller, president of the Raymond John Wean Foundation, will be the speaker at the spring commencement Friday at Kent State University at Trumbull.

About 100 of the more than 225 students graduating this spring will participate in the ceremony, which begins at 6 p.m. Packard Music Hall, Warren.

Roller is the first woman to serve as president of The Raymond John Wean Foundation, a $70 million foundation that seeks to empower residents to create a healthy, vibrant, equitable and economically stable Mahoning Valley. She also is the first member of her family to graduate from college.

A lifelong resident of Youngstown, Roller graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education, both from Youngstown State University.

Nicole Sandrella has been chosen as the student speaker. That evening, she will receive a bachelor of arts degree, double-majoring in English and psychology.

A 2011 graduate of Champion High School, Sandrella met adversity head-on in the fall of 2013. While attending classes at Kent State University at Trumbull, she was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Sandrella has completed internships with Ohio Buckeye Chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.