2026 UMF Graduate Commencement Speaker: Kristen Plamondon

Kristen Plamondon will be UMF’s first-ever graduate student speech at this year’s University of Maine at Farmington Commencement exercises on May 9. Plamondon is graduating in the UMF Counseling Psychology with a focus on the Creative Arts master’s program—one of only three similar programs in the United States. Launched in 2020, the program is designed to provide a solid clinical foundation while also integrating creative and expressive arts into the practice of counseling and psychotherapy.

Plamondon comes from a long line of educators and both her mother and father are graduates of the UMF Class of 1970. She initially graduated from UMF in 2002, majoring in elementary education with a focus on visual and performing arts. After a career as a Maine classroom teacher, she returned to UMF in 2023 inspired by the opportunity to combine her creative side with her desire to make a profound difference to individuals dealing with mental-health challenges.

“I feel so privileged to be the first master’s graduate to speak on this landmark day in all our lives,” said Plamondon. “As graduate students, we all came to UMF with a dream to serve others at important moments in their lives as teachers, specialists, counselors and leaders. We all worked hard and balanced everything else in our lives. We didn’t have to be perfect, just patient and present. And today I can say, the work is meaningful and we are all ready.”

As a classroom teacher, Plamondon saw the need for social and emotional learning. As a graduate student, she was excited about learning to integrate the creative arts into the practice of counseling and psychotherapy to assist with the mental-health challenges in Maine.

“This program is amazing,” she said. “It provides a thorough background of founding psychology theories and how to apply them. I have all these transferable skills now that make me a better teacher, a better counselor and a better person.”

Plamondon’s cohort of 19 graduating counselors is the fifth cohort of students to graduate in the UMF Counseling Psychology program. She is currently interning at Kennebec Behavioral Health and hopes to be a school-based clinician.