Under a cloudless Wednesday sky, with sunlight radiating down to the anxious and excited crowds below, graduate students march onto the lawn of University Stadium. The expanse of grass was covered in black, fold-up chairs which sat facing a large stage bearing a banner with Chico State’s insignia.
Tess Shelton, who is graduating with a masters in computer science and intends to get her PHD, gave the commencement speech. She commended her fellow graduates on facing the difficulties of balancing life, work and school and persevering through it all to be at graduation and to be receiving their diploma. “We beat the odds because we set a goal and stuck to it,” Shelton said. “Behind every ‘I can’t’ someone helped us reprogram that to ‘I can.’”
Many students had traveled from all over California to partake in their graduation ceremony. Some were working a full time job and opted to go through their masters program online.
Juan Bergos, graduating with his MBA, said that he was grateful of the online option so he could continue balancing work and school. He plans to use his masters degree to help him move up the ladder at his job.
Whitney Kay, graduating with a masters in social science, said that she commuted from Redding, and during her time obtaining her bachelors at Chico State she was completely online. She plans to go into human resources.
At the end of the long, difficult road many graduates shared tips of wisdom for students who are struggling to balance their demanding workload with everyday life.
Claudia Garcia found the small class sizes helped her collaborate more closely with her instructors and classmates, “Don’t be afraid to take that first step,” Garcia said. She is receiving her masters in public administration and wants to be an analyst for the State Department.
Rubin Barriga, graduating with a masters in social work, encouraged students to reach out for help even if it’s scary. He encouraged students who are struggling with classes, to see their academic advisor and go to their instructors’ office hours, which he said was a lot of help to him in his journey at Chico State.
When Chico State President Steve Perez took the stage he lifted up the crowd, calling for energy and excitement on a night like graduation. He implored the graduates to take their degree, “…earned with talent, hard work and dedication,” and think of the impact graduates want to leave on the world – “do something good.”
Some students already have jobs lined up. Emily Rosa is going to work at an elementary school to do speech pathology. Rosa had spent 6-years in Chico and said that there was nowhere else she would’ve wanted to receive her education, she said that she felt “endless support and positive energy with so many opportunities.”
The remaining graduation ceremonies are as follows:
- College of Communication and Education on Thursday at 7 p.m.
- College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management, College of Agriculture on Friday at 7 p.m.
- College of Behavioral Health and Social Sciences (ceremony 1) on Saturday at 9 a.m.
- College of Behavioral Health and Social Sciences (ceremony 2), College of Business on Saturday at 7 p.m.
- College of Humanities and Fine Arts, College of Natural Sciences on Sunday at 9 a.m.
Chris Hutton can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]
