Student graduation speakers Sonia Salazar (left) and Kamilia Dews have a photo op with UC Merced chancellor Steve Kang.
Grads testify to the power and promise of UC
As a high school dropout, punk rock teenager hanging on Telegraph Avenue, Marsha Rose viewed the adjacent UC Berkeley campus as a place to party, not study. She remembers bumming spare change on the avenue and passing time loitering under campus bridges with her pals. She also remembers attending her older sister's UC Berkeley commencement and thinking that was something she would never do.
But at age 35, Rose not only finally took part in her own UC Berkeley commencement, but she delivered the valedictorian speech for fellow interdisciplinary studies graduates.
"I worked my butt off here at Cal," Rose proudly told the crowd during her May 21 speech. "I took advantage of every opportunity to learn more, and now here I stand a high school dropout turned valedictorian and a perfect example that anything is possible."
That anything is possible is a lesson that rings true for many of the UC students who have earned degrees this year.
For some like Rose, the journey proved a challenge. It took a series of low-paying retail jobs, and encouragement from her husband, to convince Rose that her lack of formal education was holding her back in life and salary. Determined to turn that around, she graduated from community college and transferred to UC Berkeley two years ago.
"When I got to Cal I realized I didn't have a second to waste," she said. Her major in American Studies allowed her to pursue an interest in public health policy. She graduated as an honors student and wrote a senior thesis on youth violence, completed hours after giving birth to her first child. She wants to pursue a career in public health policy.
At Berkeley, UC's oldest campus, about 10,000 students earned degrees this year. At UC Merced, the newest campus, 100 students participated in the May 23 commencement. That group of proud graduates doubles the number of Merced alumni.
Student graduation speaker Sonia Salazar was among the first students to arrive at Merced when the campus opened in 2005.
"We literally didn't have much," she said. "Everything we didn't have in buildings was made up for in the people we met, the professors and staff."
Salazar, 21, came to UC Merced straight from high school and was the first in her family to go to college. She finished a bachelor's degree in literature in three years, spending one semester in the UC Washington Center's internship program. The pioneering atmosphere at UC Merced gave her opportunities she wouldn't have had at a bigger campus, she said, including research work. She also was a member of the first student government and helped found some of the first student groups on campus.
This summer she has an internship with the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project collecting stories of Latino vets. She expects to be in law school in the fall.
UC's other eight campuses will continue to hold graduation ceremonies throughout June with more than 55,000 earning degrees this year. All Californians can be proud of their accomplishments and look forward to the possibilities they will realize in the future.
Visit these campus Web sites for more graduation information and student highlights: