GRADUATION TALES FROM
THE CLASS OF 2007...

...My mom went to Sonoma State back in the 80's. While she was attending school she was pregnant with me. My mom actually has a photo of her in her cap and gown receiving her diploma and holding me in her arms. She graduated in May of 1985 and now 22 years later I will be graduating
on the same campus where I attended my first couple of months of life. I transferred to Sonoma State from SRJC in spring of 2006. I had a wonderful experience at Sonoma State. I enjoyed many of my professors in both departments. I am very thankful that I went to school here.

- Rachael Knight, B.A. Psychology

...In 1997, I entered SSU as a freshman on a combo of scholarships, grants and student loans. My mother had always pushed me to go to college and further my education. Her famous words were, "don't do what I did and drop out." When I entered the university this lecture became more frequent. One day in the Spring of my freshman year after hearing this speech I challenged my mom to go back to school. I told her that it was not too late for her, after all, there was an 80-year-old lady in my math class and in comparison to Ruth, mom was still a spring chicken. Mom reluctantly took my challenge and the following semester she enrolled part time at Mendocino Junior College and eventually transferred to SSU. Fast forward seven years, she is now graduating MAGNA CUM LAUDE with a BA in Liberal Arts at the age of 53 and a grandmother.

- Andrea Delgado (Andre), Class of 2001
- Janis Andre, BA in Liberal Arts, Class of 2007

...The past four years at Sonoma State University has been an amazing experience for me. Even though it was difficult, It's great to know I finally overcame the obstacles. When I was ten I was diagnosed with Turner syndrome, a female chromosome condition, and it made certain learning tasks very difficult. I always had to constantly prove to people that I was smart enough to succeed, and I think I really accomplished that here at Sonoma State. When I first came my freshman year, I really didn't think I would make it. The work was so difficult and it was hard being away from home. I would call my mom crying on the phone telling her I couldn't handle it, but she would always tell me to stick it out and that I could do it.

Even though my classes have been a great challenge, I really learned a lot. As an American Multicultural Studies major, I've learned how our society constructs how we label and look at other people, and that we need to understand how these ideas are contructed in order to deconstruct it. Now I'm careful not to judge people before I get to know them, and I've met a number of great people at Sonoma State of different backgrounds who I will greatly miss. I will never forget my time at Sonoma State, and even though I don't know what I'll do with my life yet, at least I know that my education here will help me to be successful at whatever I choose to do.

Dana Tucker, B.A., American Multicultural Studies, Class of 2007

...Erik Taylor, 24, earns a diploma on Saturday for four simultaneous bachelor's degrees - in Computer Science, Mathematics, Economics and Environmental Science. He earned them in approximately the same time that it takes, on average, to finish a single undergraduate degree. His overall GPA (3.7+) and his GPAs in each one of the four majors are feats in themselves also.

Such an outstanding scholarly performance might imply that Mr. Taylor spent the past four years being a book worm, but that is not true. Mr. Taylor will graduate this May with honors of distinction from the Computer Science Department in recognition of his outstanding achievements, including his research work in computer algorithms and his service efforts in support of SSU’s computer science club, student research in the sciences, and several other campus activities.

You may ask: Why get four bachelor’s degrees when one is difficult enough? The answer is, quite simply, the World. But the World is complicated. By blending knowledge from four different fields, Mr. Taylor is helping solve extremely challenging problems, such as building housing that is affordable to the tenants, profitable to the builders, socially responsible to the community, and environmentally friendly to our planet. Optimizing competing requirements is a daunting assignment, but Erik is up to the task.

Sonoma State University is proud of its graduates who, like Erik Taylor, will apply everything learned to improve life for everyone. The faculty of the Computer Science Department congratulates Erik on his admirable accomplishments and wishes him a bright future.

- George Ledin, Professor of Computer Science

 

...I am 23 years old and I've lived with scoliosis since I was born. As a child it didn't seem to be a very debilitating condition, but over the years the pain increased, making the balance between school and work inevitably more difficult. As I progressed throughout college my degree progress every semester seemed to be physically more challenging than the last. Increased medication and visits to the doctor became an absolute necessity.

I don't know if I would have made it this far had it not been for the continued support and assistance of my parents. They would often check in on me, help me cut things out, photo copy, etc. just to lighten my physical load. They were both taught how to adjust my back so that they could crack the bones back into place each day, since it had reached the point where my bones did need to be pushed back in at least once a day, if not more.

Hours at the computer would often cause my back muscles to spasm and ribs to push out of place, but I kept working with one goal in mind...my degree. I know my parents are very proud of me for pushing through college to earn my degree in Liberal Studies. In addition, I'm continuing my education at SSU to earn my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. I know it will be difficult, but I also know that I was meant to be a teacher. It has always been my passion to work with children and I want my future students to see my example that nothing is impossible, but it takes great perseverance, dedication, passion, and grace! Really, this B.A. degree belongs to my parents as well as myself. I could never have made it this far without them.

Lindsey Brandon, B.A., Liberal Studies - Hutchins

...I am proud to state that I am the epitome of public policy and social services. I am a first generation, son of single mother student who moved here from Portugal at the age of 9. I went to a small public school in Central California that helped me transform my poor English into a level similar to my fellow students. From there I went to a quality publich high school that had great college preparation programs and an awesome Career Center. Mrs. Cutts, the informed me of Assembly Bill 540 in 2001. A undocumented Californian would be able to pay in-state tuition if s/he spent three years in the California High School system, graduated from it and is University eligible. This allowed me to apply to Sacramento State and Sonoma State.

Since I'm a first generation student and from a low socio-economic status, I qualified to be part of an amazing program called "Educational Opportunity Program". This amazing retention program provides a highly passionate staff to work with students to make sure they transition successfully, maintain a sense of belonging and navigate through the paperwork. This program got me to Sonoma State and is the program that is helping me leave Sonoma State with a degree in International Business Management and be a 2007/2008 Coro Fellow out of San Francisco. What I was blessed with was Californians truly investing in the future of their state by providing access to people like me.

- Nadir Vissanjy, B.A., International Business Management, 2007/2008 Coro Fellow, President - Associated Students, 06-07

...Whatever It Takes: As I graduate this week from Sonoma State University as a Family Nurse Practitioner, I am filled with a sense of elation and gratitude.  The fulfillment of this long time dream is made even more poignant when I think of all the paths I have walked in this lifetime and how easy it would have been to get lost at so very many crossings.

            One of my earliest memories, at the age of three, was being taken away from my mother in the middle of the night and being put in state run orphanage with bars on the windows while my mother was taken to jail. That first night, lying awake in the dark was a time of such confusion and anguish that it seemed that life could have just stopped for me then.  In the following years my mother and I suffered one eviction after another often losing everything we owned.  It took me many years to figure out that life was so crazy because my mother suffered from mental illness. And of the losses, a stepfather lost to alcoholism, a father lost to suicide. Then the school years, too crazy and unstable to go to school much ending with dropping out of H.S. to have a baby.   

I think back on the million assaults that one faces when one is young and has no where to turn, so many places to loose ones way.  And then the adult years difficult too in part because of a lifetime of poor models.  But a strength throughout, was a dream to live a life guided by compassion. It was that dream that led me, at 20 years of age, to nursing.  And then the long time dream I had to be a Nurse Practitioner. That was the dream that lead me finally, after many years and many struggles, to SSU.  It has taken time, perseverance and hard work, a "whatever it takes" kind of attitude, but I am fulfilling my dream of becoming a Nurse Practitioner and I am grateful to live in a world where such things are possible."

- Juliet Hegdal, Masters of Science in Nursing,
Family Nurse Practitioner

...After six years as a full-time student and full-time single parent, I am graduating from SSU with a BA in History. The journey has been overwhelming at times and there were many moments where I thought I would not accomplish this goal. My daughters gave me the strength I needed and while we sacrificed so much to get ‘mommy educated’, the three of us will
benefit in ways we probably do not realize yet. I will pursue a Master’s degree from SSU in the fall then go on to earn a PhD. I learned that there are too many barriers in our society to a mother’s pursuit of higher learning. With this realization, education has become a focus in my life, my daughters’ lives, and for all the women who will never have the opportunity to earn a higher degree. The people who have encouraged me are the amazing SSU professors, my own single mother, and all the friends who let me cry on their shoulders, watched and fed my children, and proofread my papers. This degree is just as much theirs as it is mine.

- Bridget J. Thornton, B.A. History

...After graduating in the pioneer class of the Technology High school program housed on the Sonoma State University campus, Steven Campbell entered college determined to accomplish as much as possible in his "four year experience." Steven graduates today having completed over 200 units (equivalency of nearly 7-years of school work), magna cum laude with a triple major (B.S. Business Administration (emphasis in Accounting), B.A. Economics, B.A. Political Science) and a minor in International Studies. Beyond his academic endeavors he has remained active in campus-wide activities and the local community, serving as the elected Vice-President of Finance (CFO) of Associated Students (student government) for two consecutive years, was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, as well as a Teen Court volunteer attorney at the Roots for Youth Center for delinquent teens. Steven has been a model student at Sonoma State University and will no doubt be as successful in future endeavors. Upon graduation, Steven will move to San Francisco to begin his employment with “Big Four”international public accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked as an intern last summer.

- Terry M. Lease, Ph.D., CPA, Professor of
Accounting, School of Business & Economics

 

...Sonoma State University - It’s A Family Thing. In 1987, when I graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College’s School of Nursing, I said to everyone, "I’m going to work for a couple of years and then get my BSN at Sonoma State University."  Well, just add a zero to that couple of years (20yrs) and here I am, right where I was meant to be all this time!  I’ve attended a few schools off and on over the years and accumulated just a few units, but none of the schools ever felt right for me.

         Graduating from Sonoma State University has become a “family thing”.  The family thing all started about 30 years ago when my father (Keith Dwyer) and brother (Bruce Dwyer) graduated from SSU with their Master’s Degrees on the same day. My brother Bruce re-united with and married his childhood sweetheart, Lori Fautley, who also attended Sonoma State. Several of my sister-in-law’s family members also attended SSU. My sister (Noni Dwyer) obtained her BS in biology about 30 years ago. She met her husband (Gary Martin) here at SSU.  For a short time my other sister (Alicia Bright) attended Sonoma and when her kids are a little older she plans to return. In June of 2006, our oldest daughter, Kayleena Canepa, graduated from Sonoma State University with a BA in Sociology.

         I’m proud to be graduating from Sonoma State University.  I lived only blocks from here growing up and my parents used to bring my little brother and I here to pick blackberries for pies and afterwards we’d sit by the pond and dip our toes in the cool water.  I grew up with my father telling me how important it is in this world to get an education and how no one can take that away from you.  As an adult, I believe in the importance of a well-rounded education, blackberry pie, and relaxing by the pond.

- Karen Canepa, Bachelor's of Science in Nursing

...I am graduating in the SSU class of 2007, with a second Bachelors of Arts, in Applied Music Voice with the honors Magna Cum Laude. I am the first person on my fathers’ side of the family to become a college graduate. If it weren't for the love and support of my family, there is no way I could've come this far.

I previously earned four Associates of Arts degrees from Napa Valley College, in Humanities and Fine Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and General Education. All of which I graduated with the honors Cum Laude in 2002.

I first started attending SSU in the fall of 2002 when I began my first Bachelors of Arts in Liberal Studies (Hutchins), which was completed in 2004 with the honors Cum Laude.

It was funny, that at the end of my first BA that I was taking just as many music classes as I was classes for my major. So I decided that I really wanted and needed to get my second bachelors in music. I had always loved music and singing, so I decided to study them seriously. This was a big deal for me considering I didn't really read music. But I do now."

I plan to go into the credential program to earn a teachers certification, so that I can pursue my love of teaching and working with children. I also plan to continue on for a Masters in Voice, so that I can practice my other love of music as an opera singer and recitalist.

I don't see why I can't do both. I will be a teacher by day and opera diva by night.

- Jennifer-Marie Iloff, Applied Music Voice, Magna Cum Laude