‘Journey to Graduation’ provides a look at how Latino class of 2024 earned its diplomas, degrees
In 2008, Los Ángeles taxi driver Bonifacio Jaimes pulled up stakes and moved to Fresno so his oldest daughter could enroll in the Doctor’s Academy at Sunnyside High School and take the first step of fulfilling her dream of going into health care.
Rafael Valencia, who worked as a welder and “slept like four hours a day” while attending John F. Kennedy High in Sacramento, was that area’s only graduate in 2013 to earn a prestigious Gate Millenium Scholarship. His mom was a janitor; his father washed cars.
A current Central Valley television broadcaster recalled at a 2012 educational conference that she gave the keynote address at her junior high school graduation, and her father told her to enjoy the moment because she would not go to high school. “School is for the children of the patrón (boss), not for you,” she was told.
What began as a master’s thesis for Manuel Olgin almost five decades ago has evolved into the country’s largest celebration of university Latino graduates at Fresno State. The Save Mart Center, in recent years, has reached capacity as families, friends and supporters cram into the 14,000-seat arena to cheer more than 1,000 graduates.
Ideally, that is what graduation season should mean for a community that, at 40%, represents a plurality of California’s residents.
However, those numbers are almost invisible when it comes to educational attainment. In Fresno County, 20.1% of the adult population have at least a four-year college degree; but only 8.9% of Latinos have one.
That example is the best in the heart of the San Joaquín Valley. Those percentages can be described as abysmal for Madera (13.8% overall vs. 6.5% Latino), Tulare (13.8% overall vs. 6% Latino) and Kings (12% overall vs. 5.6% Latino) counties.
The “Journey to Graduation” project is an effort by journalists at McClatchy newspapers in Sacramento, Modesto, Merced and Fresno to share the stories of Latino graduates at the high school, community college and university levels.
Their stories of overcoming adversity in search of a degree provide a glimpse of how this community is attempting to transform its life through education.
Workers in California with a bachelor’s degree have a median annual wage of $81,000, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Someone with only a high school degree can expect to make $36,000 annually.
Education is the great equalizer. It gets families out of poverty. It begins a domino effect in getting other family members to complete college. It leads to a better workforce.
We hope you enjoy these profiles.
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