A standing-room-only crowd packed the Gavilan College gymnasium
Friday night to celebrate the academic and career-advancement
accomplishments of more than 300 community college students.
A standing-room-only crowd packed the Gavilan College gymnasium Friday night to celebrate the academic and career-advancement accomplishments of more than 300 community college students.
Graduation 2003 was described by school officials as one of the largest such celebrations at Gavilan in recent years.
Special focus was put on the night’s two featured guests – alumnus speaker Gene Sakahara and keynote speaker Diane Cordero De Noriega – as well as a handful of students recognized for their outstanding achievement. Cara Di Maria was named Outstanding Transfer Student; Sandra Gonzales took home Outstanding Technical Student honors; and the school’s Outstanding Scholar award went to Pamela Suzanne Kellogg, who earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Graduation capped off a year Gavilan President Steve Kinsella described as “one filled with extraordinary events.” A controversy over a mural painted by art department students, the naming of Kinsella as the school’s new president, and a state budget crisis that axed dozens of class sections from course offerings were part of the dynamic 2003 school year.
“Forget about all the trouble in the world because tonight is your night,” Kinsella told students at the beginning of the ceremony.
The accomplishments of Di Maria, Gonzales and Kellogg were recognized amid the backdrop of other cap-and-gown-clad students whose backgrounds vary deeply. In his address, Kinsella recognized a number of those students that make up the richly textured fabric of community college education.
There was Lori Head, a 34-year-old banquet captain at the Corde Valle resort who didn’t have a high enough high school grade point average to attend a four-year university years ago. A full-time student and active member of the school’s Associated Student Body, Head will enter Mills College in the fall to study inter-media arts.
And there were students whose accomplishments were recognized by family and friends who greeted the graduates as they exited the gym Friday.
There was Melissa Piedmont, a 27-year-old cerebral palsy victim who received a certificate of achievement from her wheelchair. Piedmont participated in Gavilan’s disabled students program and will go on to volunteer at hospitals.
There was Carlos Lopez, a 35-year-old father of three who is employed full-time at juvenile hall but is looking to make a career switch into educational psychology. Lopez plans to attend Cal State Monterey Bay.
“I’m proud I can show my kids their dad counts for something,” Lopez said, responding to one of two questions posed by another graduation speaker, Jean Ottmar.
Ottmar, a former Gavilan school board trustee, was given an honorary degree recognizing her for years of service to the school. In her acceptance speech, Ottmar told students to ask themselves what they were most proud of during their time at Gavilan. She also posed the question, “How would your life be different if Gavilan College did not exist?”
For Lopez, focused on his accomplishment, the answer was clear.
“I still would have done this. I would have found another college and graduated,” Lopez said in front of beaming family members.
Head, thinking back on her time as a student trustee and as a member of the student senate, had a more difficult time answering Ottmar’s thought-provoking question.
“I probably wouldn’t be getting a college degree if it weren’t for Gavilan. I didn’t have a good high school GPA. And Gavilan was a local and convenient place to further an education,” the Gilroy resident said. “I’m glad it was here.”
More than 200 of the 317 graduating Gavilan students donned their gowns and mortarboards in Friday’s ceremony. After the event, some could be heard talking about the messages delivered by the night’s speakers.
A popular and poignant one was by Sakahara, a 1968 Gavilan grad who went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Cal State Chico and his master’s degree at San Jose State.
The longtime Gilroy educator, who currently is the recruitment administrator for Gilroy Unified School District, told a story about how one random act of kindness saved a boyhood friend from committing suicide. He concluded his speech with 10 two-letter words he asked the graduates to ponder in the weeks and months and years to come, “If it is to be,” he said, “it is up to me.”
