Fresno City College honors its 7 top graduates with dean’s medallions

Life threw numerous obstacles at Faith Vega while she was focusing on her studies at Fresno City College.

The full-time student was inspired by her “hard-working single mother,” Leticia, and her work ethic of working countless hours a day to “give me a chance to succeed in life.”

In the last two years, Vega’s grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, her grandfather developed Alzheimer’s, and her mother had to take an extended leave of absence from work.

That created financial hardships for the family, so Vega started working 30 hours a week to help support her family. That was in addition to working as an in-home support service case caregiver.

Her grandmother died.

Vega not only continued her studies despite the added work, but she made the dean’s list every semester and served as a tutor at the college’s English Support Center.

Last Thursday, Vega was honored with the inaugural Dean Mónica Criado Cuevas medallion as the top graduate in the Counseling and Guidance Division. The honor was named after the late counselor who died in December.

“It’s definitely an hour. I’m so happy they chose me,” said Vega. “I worked hard the past two years to get where I am, and I overcame a lot of adversities and hardships.”

Vega was among seven graduating students who were honored as the top student in their area of study. The recipients, who were honored by interim president Marlon Hall, will participate in the June 3 commencement at Chukchansi Park.

Vega will attend UC Berkeley and major in sociology.

“We hop when you complete your master’s degree, you’ll consider joining our counseling family,” said Dr. George Alvarado, interim dean of counseling.

Vega, who graduated from Edison High School, said she has always been interested in education, “whether it was to be a teacher or a counselor. I think that was something that I’ve always been passionate about from the beginning.”

At Fresno City College, Vega was an active member of the UCLA Center for Community College Partnership, which supports prospective transfer students.

Imari Luna, also a Latina who was raised by a single mother, earned the dean’s medallion from the Applied Technology Division.

She is the first in her family to earn a college degree, and comes from a family of migrant workers. Her mother worked two jobs to provide for her family.

Luna will graduate with certificates in professional photography, fine art photography, and digital photography.

In the spring of 2020, Luna documented the life of her late grandfather.

Other dean’s medallion recipients were Waradee Warstler (Allied Health, Physical Education and Athletics); Sherine Seoudi (Business Education); Orion Luminiferous (Fine, Performing & Communication Arts); Morgan Poulter (Humanities); and, Zofia Trexler (Social Sciences).

“The students you will meet tonight will be part of the Fresno City College story forever,” said Hall before honoring Luminiferous with the Tony Cantú President’s Medallion. “We will continue to talk about them forever. These students and their testimonies of courage, determination and success.

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 16 de mayo de 2022, 8:09 p. m..