College graduates take the stage

Brown kept her appointment in Astoria, and Friday personally congratulated the college’s class of 2015.

“I have learned some interesting facts about the graduating class; 125 of you, of the 168 grads, are from Clatsop County,” Gov. Brown said to a roar of applause. “The oldest is 61; the youngest is 17. Today, a husband and wife are graduating together … and a father and son.

“One graduate is a Clatsop Community College employee. And one of you was described by your instructor as a ‘badass girl who wears Carhartt overalls to class and plans to open her own welding shop.’”

Many of the graduates Friday earned two-year transfer degrees and will continue on to universities. But many of the college’s degrees and one-year certificates will help students enter the workforce as welders, medical assistants, firefighters, entrepreneurs, deckhands, historic preservationists, mechanics, accountants, drafters and office workers. Fifteen of the graduates were pinned as nurses earlier and will soon take their state licensing exams.

Biology instructor Michael Bunch opened the event with stories about former Gov. Tom McCall helping to create public beaches; college board member Tessa James Scheller promoting local public trails and how 2015 nursing graduate Rachel Ward and her husband, Marc, help rehabilitate the sea turtle population in Central America through their nonprofit, Sea Turtles Forever.

“All of us need to follow that lead and take the second step,” Bunch said.

President Lawrence Galizio, in his last commencement address before leaving to lead the Community College League of California, asked graduates to support open-access institutions not graced by the large endowments of private research universities.

“I am very proud of each and every one of you for the sacrifices you have made and the challenges you have overcome,” Brown said, noting many of the graduates from the college work full-time jobs, raise families, return from military duty and have to get by on little.

Brown told the story of Mary Byes, 54, who graduated Friday after overcoming an alcoholic family, dropping out as a teenager to care for her siblings and being kept out of college for years by a belittling ex-husband.

“I think what always helped me is I always had to be a strong person,” Byes said.

Byes now heads to Portland State University to study human resource management, with 90 percent of her educational costs covered by the Ford Family Foundation’s ReStart program for adults returning to school.

The college staff and faculty’s student awards largely honored the sacrifice, growth and service to community by students.

Byes took home several awards Friday, including departmental honors from art, business and the TRIO student support program, for which she hopes to work at the college. Others took home awards as the top design, criminal justice, health, Lives in Transition, medical assisting, nursing and welding students.

Two Seaside High School Graduates — Jose Sosa of the class of 2013 and Daniel Kennedy from the class of 1991 — took home the Outstanding Student Scholar Awards Friday night. Their nomination by the faculty places them on the 2015 All-Oregon Academic team representing CCC.

Galizio then gave his final President’s Award to Sosa, a student he said exemplifies the award’s purpose of honoring a student’s impact on the college.

Sosa came to America 10 years ago, Galizio said, a nonnative speaker who faced bullying and struggled to fit into school. In college, Sosa maintained a 3.94 GPA, was active in the college’s Latino Club, volunteered at the Cannon Beach Bible Church, translated and tutored in math and has taken home several awards.

People immigrate to America for different reasons, Sosa said. “But we’re here for the same thing: a better future.”

Sosa thanked his parents for the sacrifices they made and the discrimination they faced as Hispanics, all to make his life better. He took a moment during his student marshal’s address to thank his mother and Spanish-speaking families.

Sosa, who will attend Western Oregon University and hopes to parlay his love of math into a teaching career, ended his address with a quote from Cesar Chavez about building community: “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. ... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”