Hundreds of Santa Barbara City College graduates entered La Playa Stadium on Friday evening to the cheers of their families and friends as they celebrated the end of their academic careers at the college.
Erika Endrijonas, SBCC president, welcomed the graduates, families and friends to the college’s 76th commencement. She announced that this year’s graduating class had 1,535 students who had earned 4,100 degrees and certificates.
After borrowing a line from country singer Cody Johnson’s song “’Til you Can’t,” Endrijonas encouraged the students to chase their dreams and take chances as they move on to the next phase of their lives.
“What matters is you chase that dream. What matters is that you manifest that dream into being, and what matters is that once you make that dream a reality, you put your mind to where the next dream can take you,” Endrijonas said.
Anthony Colin, a computer science major transferring to the University of Southern California, delivered the student address.
He thanked his fellow graduates and told them they looked amazing in their gowns, before acknowledging his family in the crowd.
“To my family, who just found out who the speaker is — surprise,” Colin said.
He talked about his journey from high school to SBCC in his speech. He thanked his parents and uncles who immigrated to the United States and worked long shifts.
Despite their long hours, Colin said they were always eager to learn about what he was studying. Although they didn’t always understand his path, Colin said they believed in it.
He also talked about how he failed calculus twice, but with the encouragement of his professor was able to master it and later became a tutor in the college’s math lab.
Colin shared that at times he felt like a “discrepancy,” but he learned to embrace the feeling and what makes him different. He finished by encouraging his classmates to embrace who they are and believe they belong in any room they enter.
“There is someone out there in your exact situation, just waiting to hear that somebody has made it,” Colin said. “The world is waiting to hear your discrepancies.”
Want to celebrate a graduate in your life? Submit your own graduation announcement to Noozhawk’s Class of 2025 showcase.
