Nation’s largest Latino graduation at Fresno State becomes dance party. See the video

Once the U.S. Marine Band struck up the brass sounds of ‘El Toro Mambo,’ the 48th Fresno State Chicano/Latino Commencement Celebration became a full-fledged fiesta Saturday night at the Save Mart Center.

With Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra looking on – and clapping to the rhythm of the traditional instrumental from the Pacific coast Mexican state of Sinaloa – graduates and others danced on the arena floor.

Even Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, a folkloric dancer when he attended UC Irvine, joined in the dancing alongside Danzantes de Aztlán director Víctor Torres, Mexican Cónsul Nuria Zúñiga and newly minted honorary doctorate recipient Lilia Gonzales-Chávez.

A video of that moment – which came halfway through the ceremony honoring more than 1,000 Latino graduates – went viral on TikTok and other social media. “Look at all that educated CULTURA,” posted Latinas in Sports in its Instagram account.

“¡Qué siga la fiesta! ¡Qué siga la fiesta!” (Let the party continue!), said Torres before the Marine band finished with the cumbia tune ‘Mil Hora’ (One Thousand Hours).

“You thought you came to a graduation, and you came to a party,” said Torres, who organized the celebration, considered the largest of its kind in the country.

Health secretary “felt at home”

Becerra, whose wife is from Fresno, said he “felt at home” at the start of a 15-minute speech. The Sacramento native recalled visiting Fresno often after meeting his wife while both were at Stanford.

“It is great to see so many family here,” said Becerra, a former member of Congress and the state Assembly. “We thank you for sharing this wonderful occasion with the people that we are most proud to celebrate today.”

Becerra, the first Latino to serve as head of Health and Human Service, mentioned he identified with the graduates because he was the first in his family to graduate with a college degree.

“Like many of the families who are here, my parents came (to this country) with the money they had in their pockets. In those days, $13 could take you very far … but it was a start,” he said.

More than 70 percent of the Latino graduates were the first in their families to earn a college degree.

Looking at the many parents who were among the estimated 14,000 in attendance, Becerra thanked them.

“I know how proud you are of the people that are here, because many of you never had a chance – like my father – to go beyond the sixth grade,” said Becerra. “You see in them so much of what you could have done yourself.”

Becerra encouraged the graduates to “keep falling.”

“There’s nothing wrong in falling,” he said, alluding to inventor Thomas Edison who once said “I’ve not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

Becerra told the graduates to “constantly find a way that works. You’re young. Ask your parents about their stories. How many times did they have to fall before they had a chance to see their child succeed and become a graduate from Fresno State?”

In two decades, said Jiménez-Sandoval, Fresno State’s Latino enrollment has jumped from 15% to 56%.

“You are present in every discipline,” he told the graduates. Back then, we were concentrated in the arts and the humanities. Today, we are in engineering, biology, social work .. the list goes on and on.”

70% of Latino grads were first to earn college degree in their family

During Fresno State’s graduation ceremonies, which began on Friday and ended on Sunday, Jiménez-Sandoval conferred honorary degrees on Fresno Arts Council president Lilia Gonzales-Chávez (Fine Arts), former Gallaudet University President Robert R. Dávila (Humane Letters), and Hinds Hospice founder Nancy Hinds (Humane Letters).

Ángel Rojas, of Fresno, was chosen as the President’s Graduate Medalist. Rojas earned a master’s degree in history with a 3.92 GPA, and is the first in his family to graduate from a four-year university.

Nathan Theng, a Smittcamp Family Honors College scholar, earned the President’s Undergraduate Medalist.

Fresno State celebrated about 6,116 graduating students.