Bakersfield College Delano Campus graduates with Rich McCrow, Director of BC’s Delano Campus and Rural initiatives

On May 15th, Bakersfield College celebrated the commencement ceremony for its 2015 graduates, an event filled with all the pomp, circumstance, grandeur and spectacle you would expect in seeing more than 1,000 grads complete their arduous, but ultimately rewarding academic journeys.

And while it’s a lot of fun to watch hundreds of students and thousands of friends and family celebrate such a monumental day, it’s just as satisfying for me to attend the vast variety of smaller, yet no less significant ceremonies honoring sub-sets of our sprawling graduation class during this hectic season.  Bryan Hirayama did the photos which you can find at http://bakersfieldcollege.smugmug.com/2015-Delano-Commencement/

This May marked the 40th year that students were graduating from Bakersfield College’s Delano campus — and just as with the larger BC ceremony, it was with the same level of joy and pride that our executive team was on hand to watch 95 Delano students revel in their achievement at a pre-commencement celebration on this very special campus.

Most of those grads would also walk during the larger BC campus commencement later that night, but this joyous afternoon affair allowed those Delano students to congratulate each other and celebrate together in a more intimate, more familiar setting…..at the very same place they made their dreams come true.

With Rich McCrow, Director of the Delano Campus and BC’s Rural Initiatives, leading the ceremony and the spirited Mariachi Nuevo Grullense providing musical accompaniment, it was a fitting way to honor the hard work and dedication of those 95 students.

Even though the students were the focal point of the ceremony’s theme “A Celebration of Success,” that sentiment could also be applied to Delano and the campus as well. After celebrating the 100th anniversary of its incorporation two years ago, Delano continues into its second century as an agricultural hub, a hotbed of equality for farmworkers’ rights and one of the region’s true backbone communities.

And for the last four decades, Bakersfield College’s Delano campus has been furthering the city’s commitment to advancement through betterment of one’s self and the community around you. Since opening their doors in 1975, nearly 3,000 Delano students have earned their AA degrees, while another 1,300 have achieved professional certification.

Executive Vice President Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg, President Sonya Christian, Vice President Zav Dadabhoy, Vice President Anthony Culpepper

I think I can safely speak for Rich and the rest of our BC leadership team at the ceremony — Anthony, Nan and Zav — when I say how privileged we all are to have contributed in ways great or small to the ongoing success of those new Delano grads.

They are a continuing testament to the amazing work being done 34 miles up the road.

Thanks to Rich and his incredible team for making this beautiful day happen.

Tagged: 2015 Commencement, Anthony Culpepper, Delano, Delano Campus, Mariachi Nuevo Grullense, Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg, Rich McCrow, Sonya Christian, Zav Dadabhoy