As the sun came up over the California State University, Bakersfield campus Friday morning, students in blue robes and a rainbow of shawls, stoles, cords, leis and decorated mortarboard hats made their way onto the university’s main soccer field.
Tabitha Joplin was the first to claim one of the hundreds of white folding chairs waiting in neat rows for her and 717 other future graduates. With a 45-minute drive from her home in Taft, Joplin chose to be a bit early, rather than late.
“My entire time here has been the best,” she said. “Everything I’ve learned in my undergraduate career definitely prepared me for law school.”
Joplin said she never planned to attend a university. But a friend’s family struggles inspired her to pursue a future as a family law attorney. And that meant a bachelor’s degree.
Joplin said CSUB’s criminal justice program has put her a path to a career that she plans to spend protecting children.
CSUB’s Interim President Vernon B. Harper Jr. took the stage, once the sun was up, to welcome students from the university’s School of Social Sciences and Education to the first of the campus’ three commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday.
“Graduates, welcome to a day that will live in your memory forever. This morning — just as the dark sky was showing its first signs of light — you made your momentous journey to this beloved campus. And that is as it should be: For as the sun rises, so do our Roadrunners,” he said.
Ceremonies for undergraduates from the schools of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering, Arts and Humanities and Business and Public Administration were held Friday evening and graduate and doctoral degrees were awarded on Saturday morning.
CSUB conferred 1,917 degrees following the spring commencement ceremony, bringing the total number of graduates in the 2023-24 academic year to nearly 3,300.
Dr. Harper, harkening back to the university’s first commencement address from Bakersfield native and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Earl Warren, called on the graduates to relish the work ahead of them.
“The parallels between then and now are striking; a nation facing divisions and debate over the best course forward,” he said. “Warren urged the small group of students waiting for their diplomas to reject frustration and bitterness. `Runners, I offer you the same advice: Accept the challenge of the future, and then accept the next one, for the challenges will never end. Our greatness — the test of our character — lies in how we answer those challenges.”
Darlene Din, graduating with her degree in sociology, said her hope for the future comes from her time at CSUB. Din, 65, was welcomed and inspired by fellow students who were decades younger than her.
“I was encouraged every step of the way,” she said. “What gave me the most hope was my classmates. They care about the world. They care about their classmates. I feel like they can make the world a better place.”
Din said COVID gave her the opportunity to do something she never thought should would do — get her degree. An accident in 1976 disrupted her higher education plans and, though she has had a successful 40-year career in agricultural advocacy, a university degree had always been a dream. She realized it Friday.
Associated Students, Inc. President Daisy Alamillo thanked all the people who supported the new degree-holders in their education.
“We began during the height of a global pandemic where we were thrown into a virtual classroom and navigating learning through a computer screen,” Alamillo told her fellow graduates. “You could have let those challenges become excuses for failure, given up and pursued education at a different time, but you persevered.”
Two honorary doctorate degrees were given during Friday’s ceremonies. The first was to Arvin High School teacher Larry Hallum, who led his students to repeated victories in the "We the People" national civics competition.
The second went to CSUB’s former Associate Vice President for Information Technology Faust Gorham, who led the fight to get university students the technology they needed to learn during the pandemic.
When the speeches were done, it was time for graduates to walk the stage.
On their way there, they shared hugs, handshakes, cheers and laughter with the professors and lecturers who shepherded them through their university careers.
Genesis Tholmer raised her arms in a cheer as she passed Dr. Anne Duran, who echoed the move.
“The most important thing I learned is if you limit yourself, you’ll stay where you are,” she said. “Continue to push barriers and you will change the world.”
Tholmer's class started their careers in the middle of the COVID pandemic and faced challenges that daunted them, but she said they fought through.
Tholmer took only three years to complete her degree, was a student-athlete on scholarship with the track team and worked an administrative job on campus as a student.
Her mother, Tina Bank, said their family was elated to come from Sacramento to celebrate her graduation.
She said Genesis was always driven and always active, playing basketball and running track and excelling in school. But she also believed in herself.
“She’s always been very disciplined,” Bank said. “She’s been her own biggest fan.”
Tholmer's father, Alphonse, said the day was emotional for everyone in the family.
“This is the first daughter to graduate college,” he said. “We shed some tears.”
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