Let the grads begin

Coral Wilson

As Keri Dawn Jubran, 23, accepted the R. Dudley Boyce Outstanding

Student Award during the Golden West College commencement, her father

beamed with pride as strangers gave him a pat on the back and said,

“Good job.”

“You always wonder what kind of a job you are doing, but it is

moments like this that you know you did the right thing,” Kerry

Bateman said of his daughter.

Bateman said he raised his children to have common sense, to think

for themselves and to stand up for what they believe in. Jubran was

the first of his children to graduate from college, but this won’t be

the end of the road for her.

“There is pride, elation and then the question over what’s coming

up next, where do we go from here,” he said. “Out in the real world,

the textbook doesn’t mean a thing.”

This time of year marks the end of one journey and the beginning

of another, with graduations taking place all over Surf City, Orange

County and the country.

Starting out or starting over, 792 students received their

associate in arts degrees, and 283 students received vocational

certificates of achievement on Thursday, May 29.

As students and faculty marched to the beat of “Pomp and

Circumstance,” children ran into the procession of green, yellow and

white robes to give hugs and last congratulatory kisses while friends

and family held signs, balloons, flowers and stuffed animals.

The march was the same for each graduate, but each had his or her

own story of accomplishments, transitions and new beginnings.

Charles Kilgore said he felt awkward at first, receiving his

associate’s degree at 46 years old.

“I had trepidations about coming back as an older student,”

Kilgore said. “But I found very quickly that I fit right in.”

A stroke at 29 years old had held Kilgore back from his dream of

being an artist and teaching art at the college level.

Standing next to him, Eric Paison, 43, said he would go on to earn

a master’s degree and become an elementary school teacher.

“I was going to take a semester off, and it turned into seven

years,” Paison said. “This is one more step toward my goal.”

Even without a degree, Paison said he had succeeded with a good

job in the aerospace industry. But he went back to school to pursue a

more fulfilling career.

“I want to teach and make a difference,” he said. “When I retire,

I want to be happy with what I did the last 20 years.”

“The oldest graduate this evening is 66 years young,” said Kenneth

Yglesias, president of the college. “And the youngest graduate is 18

years old.”

Pointing out the flags from countries around the world that

decorated the central quad, he said 20 graduates that evening were

international students and more than 100 countries are represented on

campus.

“I feel happy and feel light in the future,” said Thuy Luong from

Vietnam. “My real dream come true, graduate from here and transfer.”

When Luong and her husband, Cuong Che, came from Vietnam three

years ago, they could only speak a little English. By recording class

lectures and studying together and with the support of their

professors, they were able to graduate at the same time.

They will go on to study pharmacology at Long Island University in

New York.

“The teachers and lectures very hard to understand,” Che said.

“Just try hard.”

But Che said his dream will come true only after they finish

school and start a family.

“Job can look for it later,” he said. “Children very important. I

need to make a next generation first.”

Golden West College is a launching pad of great aspirations,

commencement speaker Keith Yamashita said.

He offered some advice for the students’ journeys: Create a safe

haven for radical thinking. If you are miserable, do something about

it. When given a choice, take a bolder path. Give selflessly. Smile

at people you don’t yet know. And think chocolate souffle, not Weight

Watcher’s sorbet.

* CORAL WILSON is a news assistant who covers education. She can

be reached at (714) 965-7177.