Hello... it’s a C0C grad
More than 1,700 students received their diplomas during Friday’s ceremony
Thirty-one-year-old Brandon Diaz reached a big stepping stone in his life Friday morning.
Diaz, along with 1,766 other students dressed in dark blue robes and caps, walked across a stage at College of the Canyons to celebrate receiving an associate’s degree.
“It’s a big deal because it’s the beginning of everything,” Diaz said, describing his feelings about graduation day.
Diaz’s associate’s degree in computer science will lead to a transfer to California State University, Northridge, a promotion in his career that he’s been working toward for 10 years, the purchase of a house with his fiancee, and a wedding.
“This is core for the future,” he said.
COC’s 47th annual graduating class — the largest class to date — represents 103 majors, with liberal arts and sciences ranking as the leading fields of study among graduates, followed by accounting, psychology, sociology, nursing and administration of justice.
Of the graduates Friday, 216 received two or more degrees.
COC Chancellor Dianne Van Hook gave the commencement address at the Valencia campus Honor Grove, where she told graduates to “believe, begin, become.”
She said if the graduates believe in themselves and begin to do the work necessary to accomplish their goals, they will become what they want to be.
“Belief leads to action,” Van Hook said, advising students not to look back at their lives and think “if only I had” or “some day.”
Even if someone struggles and fails, that’s part of life. The real question is if the person can bounce back from it, she said.
The chancellor cited accomplishments of specific students who faced major obstacles.
Graduate Tait Steven Jacobsen graduated from COC and West Ranch High School this week — as a valedictorian of both schools.
Another student survived a Metrolink accident last year, spent four months in intensive care and received her medical lab certification Friday.
She spent hospital time catching up on school work.
The third student cited by Van Hook was a veteran who took time off to take care of her mother. Twenty years later
she went back to school, received an associates degree Friday and plans to continue her schooling to obtain a doctorate in psychology.
“Choose to believe, choose to begin and choose to become,” Van Hooke concluded.
That’s exactly how Sheryl Marcelino said she feels about her life.
“I first dreamed about it, I believed in myself, and now I’m doing it,” said the 37-year-old graduate, who is transferring to CSUN to study accounting.
“I know I can accomplish whatever goal I set,” she added.
Carolina Chavez, the valedictorian student speaker, spoke to her graduating class about overcoming all obstacles as well as adapting to change.
After 10 years in the workforce, she returned to College of the Canyons to earn a degree in interior design. Within the first two weeks, Chavez, said she was overwhelmed.
But she took inspiration from her mother, Dora, who has cerebral palsy.
“The words ‘I can’t’ never existed in her vocabulary,” Chavez said, adding that she would think about her mother anytime she had doubts about returning to school. “Like my mother, I adapted,” she said. Chavez advised her fellow graduates to surround themselves with people who will push them to succeed and to live a life filled with dreams.