‘Making history’ after hard year. Madera Community College holds first commencement

Heaven Carranza was one of 77 students to graduate from Madera Community College on Thursday evening, making her part of the first graduating class at the college’s first-ever commencement ceremony.

Although students have been taking college classes in Madera since 1985, this is the first ceremony since the campus broke away from being a Reedley College satellite campus last summer, becoming the state’s 116th community college.

“It’s really thrilling to think about it; essentially making history, and so I feel completely honored to be part of the first class,” Carranza told The Bee.

Carranza earned summa cum laude honors and will transfer to Fresno State in hopes of becoming a preschool teacher with a focus on special education.

The child development major grew up in Madera, graduated from Madera High School, and now Madera Community — a special feat that isn’t lost on college President Angel Reyna.

He said it’s a big deal that this year is the first time students will see Madera Community College stamped on their degrees instead of Reedley College.

“Most students on our campus have never been on the Reedley College campus before, and so they’ve done all their coursework, or the majority of it, with us,” he said. “And then when they would come for commencement, it would say Reedley College, and so a lot of them didn’t have a connection to Reedley College.”

The college is conferring 507 degrees and certificates this year, but only about 150 students are taking part in the two-day commencement ceremonies.

Although each graduate could only invite three guests and masks were still required because of the coronavirus pandemic, graduates had their names called and were able to walk across the stage to receive their diploma.

Carranza’s mother, younger brother, and grandmother were in attendance, and the ceremony was a silver lining to an otherwise rough year, she said.

Carranza and several of her family members contracted COVID-19, and her aunt and uncle succumbed to the disease. Months later, her grandmother also passed away of natural causes.

“I didn’t take time (off), but it did affect my schooling,” she said. “It was a lot to deal with trying to separate school life and my private life because I didn’t want to shut out my professors or have them worry about me.”

Although she had a class on campus once a month, “it was really hard to transition to online learning where I couldn’t have that personal or physical connection with the staff, my professors or other students to help.”

She said the support of her family helped her through.

“With everything our family has dealt with, it’s a silver lining,” she said about her graduation. “Essentially, we can have something to celebrate and look forward to.”

COVID-19 changes for Madera College ceremony

With changing health guidelines, Reyna said the college was only able to give graduates a third guest seat last week.

“Up until last Tuesday, we weren’t in the orange (tier) here,” he said about Madera County’s classification under the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy pandemic guidance. “When you make the jump from the red to the orange tier, your capacity jumps from 20% to 33%, which we were monitoring.”

Reyna said he was proud of every student and what they faced to get to graduation day.

“Our students have been resilient even before they got to us. Without a doubt,” he said.

Fulisha Oscar was chosen as the Class of 2021 student of note for the college for overcoming major obstacles in her life, such as domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, and dropping out of high school.

Standing in front of glittering grad caps and flanked by a mariachi band, which played the Star-Spangled Banner and entertained guests before and after the ceremony, Oscar thanked everyone, from her instructors to the maintenance workers.

The double major will pursue a victimology degree at Fresno State, with the dream of opening up a women’s shelter in the future.

“Like you, my journey to get here wasn’t easy,” she told her classmates. “But we did it. We survived the pandemic, and we stand here today, despite the odds.”