Graduation brings joy and relief
School’s largest graduating class concludes academic year
SAN JOSE — On a day as bright and perfect as their dreams, thousands of San Jose State University students celebrated their graduation, the largest class ever from California’s oldest public university.
About half the 9,791-strong Class of 2017 — also including undergraduates and graduates who completed classes last summer and fall — attended commencement at the university’s CEFCU Stadium Saturday morning.
Brimming with leis and bouquets, and tears and cheers, the celebration capped for many students years of studying and partying. For some, graduation was a day they thought would never arrive.
“I’m finally crossing the finish line,” said Lizbeth Melgoza, 38, of San Jose. “It feels really good.”
Her path to a bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders and sciences started at De Anza College, then took a circuitous route through treatment for a tumor, brain surgery and other life complications. She plans to work as a speech and language pathology assistant, then apply for a master’s program.
She credited her achievements in part to compassionate San Jose State teachers who encouraged her to persevere and to seek help.
“Resiliency,” she said. “That’s my theme in life.”
Commencement speaker and retired broadcast journalist Ysabel Duron, an SJSU alumna, noted the difference between her Class of 1970 and the current class. When she started at San Jose State in 1965, Duron said, she was the only Latina in the journalism department — and one of just 300 Latinos on campus.
Today, she said, about 7 percent of U.S. journalists are Latino. And Latinos now make up a quarter of San Jose State’s student body.
Duron, who won an Emmy in 1974 for her coverage of the Patty Hearst kidnapping, decried the decline of television news, which she said has moved “from information toward infotainment.”
“For 43 years I fought against the dumbing down of news coverage,” she said.
She also lamented the trend of people turning to news sources that reinforce their beliefs and biases.
“Stand up for truth and reason,” Duron said. “You must protect the free and fair press.”
Her speech was received with widespread, but not resounding, applause.
But even the most compelling commencement speakers face stiff competition in their audience, which is there primarily to celebrate.
The morning exuded joy and relief, especially among those who could exhale after months and years of rushing to meet the next deadline.
Anamarie Mendez, 21, of Tracy, has been working three jobs — at Starbucks, a country club and San Jose Municipal Stadium — totaling about 50 hours a week, all while finishing her studies in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education. She changed clothes in her car between jobs.
So did classmate Vanessa Sanchez, 22, of Sacramento, who juggled classes, three jobs, plus six practices a week for Grupo Folklorico Luna y Sol, San Jose State’s Mexican folkloric dance group.
She kept work and school clothes along with elaborate costumes in her Hyundai Elantra.
“People would look at it and say, ‘Whoa, it must be a guy’s car,’” Sanchez said, “and I’d say ‘No, it’s my car.’”
The end to cramming and exams comes with mixed feelings for students, some of whom said they will soon face payments on large student loans with no job in sight.
But computer science major Rigo Dominguez, 25, of San Jose, already is working as an IT engineer, aiming to get into cloud-service engineering
He ticked off the best thing about his years at school — classes and more classes, in networks, computer languages, information security and anything computer-science-related.
“It was really fun to try them all,” he said.
Ashkon Baharlou, 24, of Los Angeles, enjoyed his senior project: an automatic beer dispenser — which holds promise for the future.
“We’re going to try to patent it,’ he said.