The best tales are about triumph. These narratives honor the journey of fearless athletes, astronauts, activists and others who rejected all limits.

Land survival techniques. Orbital mechanics. Language mastery. There are many boxes to check before your seat is reserved on a rocket to space. But these prerequisites didn't faze NASA astronaut and UC San Diego alumna Kate Rubins.  

“You have the opportunity to create a better world, a happier world,” explained His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to a spellbound crowd of 25,000 UC San Diego graduates and their families.

Landing a jump on ice takes confidence and skill, not to mention courage. Years of training and preparation culminate in a make-or-break moment that can end in triumph or catastrophe. But the pressure doesn’t get to Richard Dornbush anymore.

Alicia Garza believes Black communities deserve what all communities deserve—to be powerful in every aspect of their lives. As co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, she uses decisive action to demand change.

She fell in love with the neuron during her first semester in college, and from there her passion for science took off with a bang. Neuroscientist turned television star Mayim Bialik made a cameo at UC San Diego to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Cliff Kapono is a surfer-scientist. One of the lucky few to merge his passions, he set off for an adventure to some of the world's most coveted breaks to discover how ocean bacteria impacts the human microbiome.