‘I have purpose’: Sac State grads celebrate as university kicks off record-breaking commencement
When LaDonna Lee first attended Sacramento State, George H.W. Bush was president, grunge hadn’t yet dominated the music scene and the internet didn’t dominate daily life.
That was in 1990. On Friday, 34 years later, Lee beamed at Sacramento State President Luke Wood as she accepted her diploma at Golden 1 Center and finally attained a bachelor’s degree in arts and letters.
The 51-year-old said in an interview she completed her degree to teach her children to never give up. Her achievement also proves to herself that she is intelligent, creative and imaginative.
“I have purpose in this world,” Lee said when asked what the diploma means to her. “My voice matters. People look forward to hearing it.”
A flurry of activity filled downtown Sacramento on Friday, and is planned to continue through the weekend, due to a record-breaking 9,714 students set to walk across the stage across seven ceremonies, the university said.
Ceremonies for Sacramento State’s colleges of business, arts and letters and education proceeded Friday. Students of the colleges of health and human services and social sciences and interdisciplinary studies will walk Saturday. Engineering, computer science, natural sciences and mathematics students will take the stage Sunday.
Many university graduates didn’t have a traditional high school graduation ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are experiencing the celebratory moment for the first time.
There were no disruptions to the ceremonies Friday by pro-Palestine protesters, who have altered other college campuses’ commencement ceremonies. Excited cheers broke out Friday as at least three students unfurled flags in support of Palestine while walking across the stage during the morning and afternoon ceremonies.
“You have inherited a world that is far more pernicious and has more complex problems than those who came before you,” Wood said in his speech. “You inherit a world that is more divided by wars, taxes, economies and politics and culture and technology.”
But Sac State graduates are a light in this dark chaos by exhibiting empathy, passion and discipline, he said.
First-generation college student Dulce Nava, 21, said her younger sister originally didn’t want to pursue a higher education.
But Nava convinced her of education’s importance in part due to her own accomplishments on Friday — and now her sister will attend college, she said.
Lee hasn’t yet cemented future plans she hopes to pursue with a bachelor’s degree. Her coworkers have been encouraging her to get a master’s degree, she said, though she’s not yet sure when that will happen.
But one future event, Lee said, was certain.
“Tonight, we celebrate,” she said.
