CITY PRESS RELEASES/MEDIA STORIES

Graduation Facts!

May 29, 2007
CONTACT: Mario Chacon, Dean of Student Services (619) 388-3498 mchacon@sdccd.edu

SAN DIEGO CITY COLLEGE GRADUATES 917 STUDENTS

            San Diego —   The 93^rd San Diego City College Commencement will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the outdoor Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park on Friday, June 1.  City College is awarding nearly 1,200 associate degrees and certificates to 917 students.  Fifty Honor graduates have earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average and 161 students will earn more than one degree or certificate.

            Of the nearly 400 graduates participating, graduates range in age from 17-67.  Seventeen-year-old Margarita Morales Gonzales graduated from high school at the age of 16 and is the first in her family to graduate from college.  

Selected by students to receive the Golden Apple Award for Teacher of the Year, Jim Colbert, Professor of Health & Exercise Science is the faculty speaker.  A former 20-year football coach, Colbert is in his 17^th year teaching at City College. While working toward his third degree black belt in Martial Arts, Colbert has developed new courses in kickboxing and martial arts, teaches self-defense classes for women and keeps his students interested in fitness through his assurance they can meet the highest of standards – his!

Terry Burgess, San Diego City College President said,   "Jim Colbert is an outstanding instructor and a terrific exemplar of our finest among the faculty.  He cares about students and they know it.  This special acknowledgement represents the collective appreciation of hundreds of former and current City College students who have been privileged to have had Jim as their instructor.”

Colbert’s daughter, Karen Colbert said, “My Dad has been honored for many accomplishments, but to be so highly regarded by the students is a real thrill for him”.

Rachel Brewer, the Chancellor’s Scholarship Recipient is the student speaker.  The only sibling of five to attend college, as a teen, Brewer traveled for two summers on youth humanitarian aid trips to Pakistan, Israel and Nepal. Her life passion is to work in the humanitarian field, but she first plans to obtain her masters in Nursing, focusing on Women’s Health with a specialty in AIDS/HIV. With her 4.0 GPA, she hopes to transfer to Stanford to study Human Biology but is also considering UC Berkeley’s Peace Studies Program. Brewer is the President and founder of Amnesty International at City College, Vice President of the Inter-Club Council and an Environmental Club member.

            City College graduates are from 13 different states, including Idaho, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania; and 19 different countries of origin, including Africa, China, Peru and Thailand.  Graduates are transferring on to a variety of four-year universities, including UC Berkeley, UCSD and Cal State Northridge. 

            Every year City College has many student success stories to share. For example, Dan Robbins, age 34, endured homelessness and great family adversity during his college years.  The only sibling of four to graduate college, Robbins, an EMT-B/Dispatcher with Pacific Ambulance, is transferring to Stanford to study medicine.

            Another student, Rosemary Williams, came to the U.S. from Nigeria eight years ago as a single woman. Today she is a U.S. citizen, married with 3 children, working full-time while earning her nursing degree, and now plans to transfer to SDSU.

            Eva Gabriela Baylon, President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, earned more than $6,000 through eight scholarships and will be transferring to UCSD in Mechanical Engineering.

            Alba Lopez, graduating with academic honors, has turned her life completely around since starting at City College three years ago. From incarceration in her youth, she is already a student at SDSU earning her BA in Sociology with plans to continue for her master’s degree. “Attending City College has been the most wonderful experience of my life” said Lopez.

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Located downtown in the East Village, San Diego City College offers  more than 1,500 day, evening, weekend and online courses to 15,000 students each semester. 

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